Of Love, War, and Humor
by Midori Aoi
Summary: One-Shot Series. Zutara. from the romance, to the angst, to the comedy you can't get enough of, this are the series of all of them mixed together! rated T for language and Innuendo.
1. Let Me Explain REVAMPED

So I've decided to revamp the first few chapters. You know, increase the quality. So…let me know if you like it better this way!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Avatar. And writing disclaimers seem to only wedge the knife a bit deeper.

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"You are such a JERK!!"

The slap that echoed across the campsite had sent both Aang and Sokka tumbling from their place on Appa, the two so surprised that Katara had actually slapped the ex-prince instead of freezing him to a tree as was her favorite thing to do when he annoyed her.

Infuriated and positively fuming towards the other side of camp, Katara clutched her necklace back to her neck and began to finish cooking dinner. Aang and Sokka, after climbing back to their feet, exchanged both worried and amused looks before turning to glance at where she had come out of.

Sokka snorted as he tried to cover up the snicker that would've had his head chopped off from the growling Firebender that came after her. Zuko's hands, clenched into tight fists, trembled and his face sported a rather bright and red hand mark across his good cheek.

Aang sent him a nervous look, "What'd you do this time, Zuko?" not sure whether or not he should approach either of the two steaming benders. (no pun intended)

What surprised them this time was that he didn't snap or roar anything or even sent a vicious look at Aang, instead he grumbled incoherent (and meant to be censored) words under his breath, before spitting a "Mind your own business!" At them. Aang looked back to Sokka, who shrugged and grinned widely before leaning back on Appa.

"Well…," Aang jerked a thumb to where Katara was furiously stirring a pot. "She's my waterbending teacher and my friend…so it kind of is my business…er…" He withered under a full blasted livid look from Zuko. "Where's Toph when you need her?" Aang whined softly, wondering why he sent her to go keep an eye on Zuko's uncle and scout for any other fire nation settlements nearby.

"If she wants act like a child, let her…what do I care?" he hissed, crossing his arms and sticking his nose up in the air. Katara jerked around, her eyes narrowed into a glower.

"That's great to know!" Katara spat at him over her shoulder, the soup and other food threatened to jump out of the pot as she continued to stir violently. "You probably don't care if you eat or not tonight then, isn't that right, Zuko?!"

Zuko sent her a glare of his own and the tension between them got so thick Aang could swear he saw a spark flash between them. Nervous, since he knew that if he let this go on the campsite would be a horrid clash of fire and ice, the Avatar tried to peacefully intervene.

"Uh, Guys?" he put his hands up nervously as he sent Sokka pleading looks. He face faulted when he saw that Sokka was nowhere to be seen.

"Sokka!" he hissed, "Where'd you go?!" He glanced back at the other two, Katara had stood and has lifting her hands in the octopus stance and Zuko looked ready to devour her in flames. Aang, as was his right, panicked.

"Please, you two, don't do this, who's going to teach me how to firebend and waterbend if my two teachers went off and killed each other?" A snort from behind Appa let Aang know of Sokka's whereabouts, and with a jab at the air, Aang managed to earthbend the water tribe warrior from behind Appa, into the air and land right beside him.

Sokka cried out, rubbing his behind after the rough landing but managed to quit whining after receiving a deadly look from Aang. Sighing he stood and glared at the scene before him. "Alright you two, enough's enough. Let's just eat dinner first, then you can do whatever you want – OW!!" Sokka rubbed his side from where Aang had jabbed his elbow before glaring at the twelve year old.

"You're NOT. HELPING." Aang growled. Sokka was about to growl something back until they saw, from the corner of their eyes, Zuko drop his stance before running a hand over his face.

"You're right." Zuko spoke out suddenly and the two peace keepers felt their jaws drop in disbelief.

Did Prince Zuko of the cruel and sadistic Fire nation yield from a fight? Did he finally grow up and decide to become a better person? It almost seems too good to be true! Aang was the first to recover before looking at Zuko with a hopeful look in his eyes, if he yielded now, then maybe he can finally get some rest from endless bickering! Aang was almost tearing in the eyes from this dream come true, he was on cloud nine!

"I'm only wasting my time fighting with such a silly little girl."

"EXCUSE ME?!"

The dream collapsed and Aang was painfully thrown back to reality. Face faulting, Aang felt he had lost such a great battle and collapsed to his knees. Sokka merely sighed, rolled his eyes and patted the kid on the head. "You tried, Aang."

"I'm not the one who started taking other people's things and taunted them with it!!" Katara screamed, standing up with a spatula held dangerously at her side, the soup began to rise from the pot, thrashing and gnarling in the air.

"It's obvious you can't take a joke, either!" Zuko growled, "And besides I didn't take it. I found it lying on the ground by the river, you can't even take care of your own mother's necklace and you call yourself responsible." Zuko said with a smirk, as though he hadn't heard her scream.

Silence followed for a short amount of time, and for a second Zuko felt his stomach drop when he saw her vicious glare darken into a blizzard of ice.

Zuko kept himself very still, watching her making sure not to let his guard down. Aang waved a hand over his own throat as if telling him to cut it out before it was too late. Sokka stared hopelessly, and began to try to find the nearest exit.

"You have got some nerve to speak to me the way you do." Katara hissed, her voice low and dangerous. "After all the things we've done for you, you act as if you've done the most work here!"

Her lips tilted upwards and Zuko felt a twinge of panic jerk the adrenaline to rush through his blood. "You know I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, I was actually starting to appreciate you…Well you know what Zuko? I think you need a lesson in manners, first, before I let you have your way here."

It was like lightning itself, in one flash of a second. Katara had thrown the spatula to the side, and bent a water whip so huge and large from what appeared to be water from the nearest river and her own canteen. The water whip wrapped around her and tentacles rose from the water, Aang recognized it again as the Octopus form and groaned.

Zuko, felt excitement rush from his chest, covering the panic he was feeling just moments ago. He had wanted this, he realized, as he worked long licks of flame to wrap around his arms.

Aang stared at them hopelessly, "Could you guys at least wait for me to clear the camp?" if they heard him they made no sign of it, and with a quick display of earthbending and airbending Aang had moved everything that could've been totally destroyed out of the way. Quickly urging Appa away from the oncoming chaos, Aang sent a quick look of worry and irritation at the two benders.

"Aang, aren't you going to stop them?" Sokka asked, climbing on Appa's saddle.

Aang shook his head, "They need to handle this situation themselves, and if they have to beat each other up to finally stop in full then they can."

Aang jumped and shot himself through the air to land on Appa's head, urging the beast to make his way out of the soon to be battlefield. Sending one last glance at the two polar opposites, Aang prayed they wouldn't hurt each other too badly.

When the large bison disappeared over the sight of the trees, Zuko waited no longer. Throwing the fire together to make a whip, he snapped it at her and watched, smirking, as she used the water tentacles to beat the whip out of the way.

"You've really gotten far from being a silly water peasant!" Zuko taunted, expertly dodging the water she launched at him to grab him.

"I'll show you how far I've gotten!" Katara growled as she advanced toward him, the octopus form splitting into two separate blobs of water. Letting the two sources of her element fall to the ground she bent a small amount to form large sleeves from her arms, before spinning to throw the water at him.

Zuko, seeing where she intended to strike, jumped high in the air spinning the whip to slam into her. Katara slapped the flames aside and steam erupted from the connection of water and flames, momentarily making her lose sight of him. The flames still came and she narrowly missed an arrow thin shot of fire that snapped the cord that held her water canteen to her body. Gasping in surprise she almost had no time to stop the other flames that began to surround her.

Quickly bending the water around her to stop the flames from getting so close, she failed to see the Firebender, sprinting toward her. She had just turned to see him, barely a foot away from her, and she cried out, just as he pounced and threw them to the ground. Landing on her back, she gasped, feeling the earth beneath her scrape and bruise her. Zuko grunted at her side, also bearing the harshness of the fall as well, but he had grasped her wrists and held them above her, pinning her.

"Ugh!" She growled, struggling under his steel hold, "Let me go!!" Zuko was panting next to her, and feeling his chest rise and fall rapidly above her sent the blood to rush to her head. Katara snarled, thrashing one more time before falling, weak, under him.

"I win." His voice and breath reach her ear, sending shivers up and down her spine. Katara, panting herself, tried to breathe deeply before trying to get his hands off her wrists, "You cheated." She hissed. Zuko's hair tickled her neck and chest as he turned to face her with a smirk.

"All's fair in love and war." His smirk morphed to a triumphant smile. Katara felt her face heat and turned away, embarrassed. "If you weren't such a jerk, I'd have no problems with you…" She muttered.

Zuko chuckled, "Things would be awfully boring that way, don't you think?"

Katara scoffed, "Yeah, whatever. Get off me now, Zuko." Zuko didn't budge; instead he twisted enough to that his chest really pinned her to the ground. Nervousness and panic began to make themselves known as Katara watched his eyes darken with a strange emotion she had never seen.

"Zuko…what are you doing?" Katara asked, her voice slightly trembling. Zuko smiled. "You know, I thought you noticed by now…" He was getting too close, and Katara wished he didn't feel how hard her heart was ramming her chest.

"N-noticed what?" She squeaked, feeling both excitement and panic grip her. She could feel his breath on her cheek and neck and his lips were just barely a millimeter away. She looked at his eyes, and found them actually glued on her own lips. Her cheeks flaring, she tried to move but found that she couldn't.

"Zuko – "

"Let me explain." Zuko finished, before finally closing the space and pressing his lips against hers. Katara froze, her eyes widening when his slid close. For a moment, Katara forgot to breathe.

It was when he moved his lips against her, almost massaging them carefully and tenderly, did she let her own eyes slide close. It was such a strange feeling. Aang had kissed her, yes…but nothing like this! He would just press his lips against hers and that's it. But Zuko…Oh…

She felt her own lips react, felt her own chin tilt towards him and try to follow his movements. His hands had let go of her wrists and had trailed to cup her face and hold her waist. She lowered her arms, and placed her scratched and bruised hands to hold his face and neck against her own.

She had thought that she would've felt repulsed, or something along those lines. A feeling of security and protection as well as an airy feeling wasn't something she thought she would experience with Zuko, of all people.

It was strange, and she felt something from deep within her chest begin to rise. Zuko squeezed the hand that held her waist against him and the feeling erupted. A low smooth sound rose from her chest and through her throat. The moan had surprised them both and Zuko broke their connection for a moment.

"Katara…?" He tried to ask but her lips found his again.

"Don't stop." She said half muffled as she spoke in between kisses.

Zuko was too happy to oblige, his lips parting slightly to fully kiss her. At some point they rolled and Katara was soon the one on top, kissing him. She let her hands shyly roam his chest, and was surprised when he let out a moan himself.

"Zuko, I – " He didn't let her finish. Kissing her again was one of the most sublime things he felt he had ever done right. Zuko then smiled, he should've taken her necklace and teased her a long time ago.

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Yeah…I like it a whole lot more. Okaay…as for the time frame…let's keep it after Zuko joined up with them. And yeah…I do know they're a bit OOC. Get offa me.

Mido-Ao


	2. Whatever it Takes

Drabble, Drabble, Drabble! XD I HEART DRABBLES! Ok, ok here's numbah 2!

Disclaimer: If I owned ATLA I wouldn't make people wait 2 weeks for a new episode…that's too painful ;. ;

"I'm sorry…" he turned away from me, I lay kneeling on the muddy ground, holding on to his green pant leg. Tears, I thought had stopped flowing, erupted, fell down my cheeks and splashed onto my muddy skirt, the blue almost faded from all the dark brown.

"I'm sorry…" I choked out once more, my hair undone from its original braid hung like a curtain around my face, wet and stained with the rain that continued to fall upon us.

The gray skies above us gave the illusion that it was evening instead of mid day. I slowly raised my head to look up to him, the top knot I had grown so used to was replaced by black locks that reached up to his shoulders and held at the end with a brown and thin scrunchie. The black and red armor I had thought suit him like the fire nation scum bag I had always thought he was, was now replaced by a green outfit that made it seem he was from the Earth Kingdom instead of the Fire nation.

I realized that so much had changed from the events that occurred between us in the North Pole to now, he had no longer the cold and evil stare that I always saw in his golden orbs back then…the look had changed to a painful realization, as though he had found out the most horrid thing he had always found a lie to be true. Sometimes his eyes would glaze as though he was remembering something that always pained him, and what was funny…was that he always looked like this when he thought no one was watching…

But that was the thing…someone's always watching…

Always wondering…

Always thinking…

Always prying…

Always searching for answers…

Always hurting…

And what's more…that some one was me…

I had pried and dug into zones I knew I was never suppose to be allowed in. I always asked questions to those who secretly knew him better than anyone…I always asked his uncle, Iroh, what had caused him such emotional pain that he always has a scowl. I've always asked on how and why he received his scar, I've always wondered what happened to his family, if he missed them. What his mother felt when he was banished, what his uncle felt if he saw what had happened to him. If he had any brothers or sisters…what would they be thinking about him this very moment…?

I searched and searched, I asked and I asked, I never realized what I was doing exactly, but I always knew that I wanted to learn more. Don't ask me why…I just did, at first I only made myself believe that I was just trying to see why he always had a chip on his shoulder.

I looked deeper and deeper and finally I had found it…but I found too much, and the result of my searching wasn't what I had hoped…in fact it left me torn inside.

It had happened when I had asked Iroh of how Zuko got his scar for the hundredth time, Iroh had always given me the same answer, "It is not my place to tell you of Zuko…he is the only one who can tell you…" as much as I had wanted to comply, I had this fear, this dread to what would happen if I asked the Prince himself. I wasn't afraid that he would harm me, or that he would turn me away…I was afraid to see him recoil within himself and once again try to hide painfully the pain and memories he would experience…I was afraid he would hurt himself.

It was then when I had truly realized this fear, when I had truly understood what I was doing…

I had fallen in love with Zuko.

I wanted to see him smile, a true smile. I wanted to see him laugh, to see his face light up when we offer him his favorite dish, (Iroh had managed to let out that bit of information, and I take full advantage of it.) I want to see him excited; I wanted to see a sign of him that was happy for what he had right now.

But most of all, I wanted to see what was behind the mask.

Realizing that I felt this way towards him, the energy, and the will to know more about Zuko strengthened tenfold. I no longer thought of his scar to be something repulsive, but something amazing, something that pinpointed him out from the rest of the world. Something that made Zuko be Zuko, something that I realized I had grown to respect, to admire.

To be scarred so horribly in the face and still walk around in daylight is not something most people would do, for that will I admired him.

It was early morning before it had happened; I had woken up at dawn as I always did to prepare breakfast. I cleaned myself and made some tea while the soup was being made, and waited patiently for the rest of the group to rise. Zuko was always the second to wake up and I think the fact that I woke up before him unnerved him, so I always avoided any serious conversation with him…but I would always share some small talk with him.

"Morning." I waved to him, motioning to him that breakfast was ready. He frowned, "Morning…" he murmured before sitting up and rolled his sleeping back. He turned to me and sat opposite to me and grabbed his bowl, he sniffed it and sipped at it.

He always did that…I think he still doesn't trust us completely since he always checks if we're poisoning him or something…which is always funny since I always thought it should be vice versa. He didn't say anything, but the fact that he continued eating it until there wasn't a drop left made me feel like he did enjoy it, so I had stopped asking whether if it was good or not.

"How did you sleep?" I asked awkwardly, I always had to be polite, not matter how much of an ass he could be in the morning, it was too early to start and argument. "whatever." He said indifferently.

"That's…nice…" I said lamely, I was struggling not to hit myself. that was lame. Very, very lame and I'm not surprised if he won't let me know of that.

"That was lame." He said, amused. I raised an eyebrow at him, "I don't see you trying to make a conversation." He scoffed, "why would I want to make conversation with a water peasant?" that bastard. He _knew_ I hated to be called that.

"I don't see you being any different, your highness." I spat that last word out as though it was a curse. He glared at me, "I'll have you know, that I may be dressed as an earth villager but I have more class than most of the nobles you can find in this prefect." It was my turn to smirk, "Oh yea?" I crossed my arms, and leaned against a tree.

"If you've got so much class why are you arguing with a lowly peasant, such as I, about it?" he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. My smirk grew wider. Heh, I win this round. He muttered something under his breath before standing up. His plate and spoon in his hand, he walked past me and placed them on my arms before continuing his way to where he slept.

"Thanks for the food." He muttered the moment he brushed shoulders with me. Naturally, my eyes widened at this, not once had he said thank you for anything we've done for him without his uncle to force him to. I knew he was changing too, that maybe had had grown up a little. That alone made me smile.

I turned around to see him pack up some more things and continue to wake up his uncle, who was snoring contently; my smile grew warmer and I felt a small flutter in my stomach.

"Jerk." I said softly to myself; as I held on to his plate tighter, I moved on to wash them later on. After about an hour Iroh and Aang had woken up and had made their sleeping bags, the two chattered as they ate breakfast, Aang asking certain questions of the next Fire Bending lesson, and Iroh responding to very few, while the other questions had their answers of a chuckle and a "Patience, young Avatar." He pouted, I chuckled at him.

It was about nine o'clock when Sokka was awakened. (It took both Aang and Zuko to wake him; Aang screamed out his name and cried that his pants were on fire. And when that didn't work Zuko would actually light a small flame on my brother's pants, the result would always leave a sour Sokka, an amused Iroh, a laughing me, a sheepish Aang, and a sneering/taunting Zuko.) He ate his breakfast, which thankfully had not gone cold, and we packed stuff up and began to place our stuff on Appa's saddle, when everything was set, we all set off to another region of the mountains.

Everything was going pretty well, Zuko and Sokka had been arguing and it had almost gone to the point where Sokka was beginning to grab at his club and Zuko at his sheathed swords, (I keep asking Iroh how he got them but Iroh seems to have no clue as to how he got them either.) sighing I made a water whip form from a nearby cloud and hovered it dangerously over my shoulder. The two boys stopped and grumbled.

Iroh let out a hearty laugh. "It seems you already know how to tame these two young men, eh, Miss Katara?" I smiled and Zuko snorted, he didn't really like that comment.

"Hey you guys, I think it's going to rain." We heard Aang from Appa's head. I looked up and towards Aang; the sky was pretty clear except a few clouds here and there.

"What makes you say that, Aang?" I asked curiously. Aang turned around and pointed at a flock of birds that were heading the opposite way, "Well they seem pretty jumpy, and the air smells pretty moist, that and…" he turned back the other way and looked down and began to rub Appa's head. "Appa seems a little edgy." The large bison grunted as though agreeing with him. Aang smiled and rubbed gentler. "There, there, boy, it's ok."

"The young Avatar is right." Iroh nodded his head, sniffing in the air. "We should get some shelter, this won't be just some rain, I fear." We all looked at him, "The air is very still, too still to be up this high, I fear a storm is approaching." I felt uneasy all of a sudden.

"But Uncle," Zuko protested. "We've just left our last camp; it'll be useless to go back now."

"We should look for a cave, or a village to for cover," Sokka suggested. "But I still highly doubt a small storm can knock us off course or anything." Iroh sent him a secretive smile.

"You don't really understand how strong a 'small storm' can be, do you?" Iroh asked curiously. Sokka raised an eyebrow, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"I think my uncle gave you too much credit to understand something so simple." Sokka's eye twitched and his arm gave a sudden jerk, Zuko stared at him expectantly. "Knock it off, Sokka." I said placing a hand on his shoulder, clearly sensing an upcoming argument/fight. "Let's just worry about finding a safe place to wait the storm, Kay?" Sokka growled lowly and sat down grudgingly sending harsh glares at Zuko.

"Alrighty," Aang sent us a grin as he turned and shook the ropes that held on to the big furry monster. "Appa, yip, yip!" the beast groaned and we suddenly began to head to a southern region of the mountains, all of us keeping an eye out for a village or a good spot to cover.

It only took about ten minutes to get some good ground and all of us agreed that the nearby caves we had seen earlier would make the best shelter. After a while Aang set Appa down and we all got off and began to take the materials inside once of the caves. We settled down pretty well, I didn't have to separate another fight, that was always a good sign…or just a sign that a bigger fight would happen, I'm praying to Yue that we'll be spared from anymore head aches.

After settling down we waited for a while to see whether it would rain or not, so far it had been pretty clear.

I began to gather fire wood and other items, making sure to steer clear of an annoyed Sokka and a sour Zuko, so far I've been surviving, hopefully I'll keep this up for a while. Iroh had asked to join me and I agreed full heartedly, I had some new questions to ask.

"Zuko is a complicated young man." Iroh said, I smothered down a sarcastic look. "He's dealt with pains you probably couldn't imagine, pains so great it would not be surprising if he's still dealing with them right now." He picked up another dry log and moved past a few roots.

"That still doesn't explain why he's been so obsessed to capture Aang all this time." I said crestfallen. I couldn't look at the old man, I felt bad enough as it is for prying I couldn't take another of his pained looks. There was always something I would make them remember that made things worse, and I found myself soon questioning whether my need for knowledge was worth their pain.

"That I'm afraid you must ask Zuko alone." I heard the retired general sigh. "That answer is connected to the one question you ask all the time." I managed to look at him a weak sad smile was staining his usual calm and cheerful face.

"Why and where he got his scar?" I blurted, I looked away embarrassed to have asked again. A moment passed after he had chuckled and the two of us continued to collect firewood.

"There was once a man who wished to know why the turtle would hide in its shell all the time." Iroh began; I looked up and listened attentively. "The man was so curious that he would ask himself over and over again why the turtle did such a thing. It came to the point where the man would begin to ask the other animals why the turtle did that, but obviously they had no clue at all. In fact they would tell him all sorts of ridiculous things like the turtle did so for warmth." Iroh laughed, I managed a smile.

"But he never managed to get the answer for all that time. Because he was afraid that when he asked the turtle would recoil within its shell and never come back, never realizing that the turtle needed someone to ask him that very question." Iroh looked at me. I stared, what was he trying to say?

"Miss Katara, you must be strong." Iroh said firmly and strongly. I was taken aback from the sudden fierce and encouraging look he gave me that very moment. "You must ask Zuko, not only to find the answers to your questions but for the sake of Zuko himself. He would never admit it being the stubborn lad he is, but he needs someone to talk to. Some one like you."

The fire crackled and popped as it was brought to life later around eleven in the morning. Iroh's words echoed over and over again within my mind. I was distracted from my work and I was so secluded from the group so I would think away by my own. I had wished to go for a walk a little while back to ponder but the skies looked dark enough as it is and Zuko has still not come back yet.

An hour passed and the air grew stiller and colder, I felt goosebumps ride up my arms and a shiver flew down my back by a sudden gust of cold air.

"Let's get in the cave." Aang had called and I looked around as Iroh and Sokka began to retire within the warmth the cave provided.

"What about Zuko?" I asked as I made my way around the camp and settle within the dark of the cave. "He's coming right now, but we have to get in now it's about to pour." Aang had told me. And it was true; I hadn't seen such a downpour in all my life. There was barely any wind as the rain was so heavy it seemed the air itself would have trouble going through, trees were being pushed to the ground already and what was worse…

Zuko had not returned. I began to grow steadily more worried than I had been before. Thinking of all the things that might've happened to him frightened me to no end.

I could almost picture him in a ditch right now, struggling to get out of it as it began to fill up with water. Mud holding him down…suffocating him, his golden eyes pierced with anger, determination and what made me feel worse was…fear. His short hair caked his mud, his clothes becoming a liability as he struggled to survive, and what really made me panic, was knowing he could actually be giving in to death.

Thunder crackled and lightning struck and lighted the darkened sky, the noise itself had given me strength, had given me courage and the idiocy not to think except him.

I ran out of the cave and into the pouring rain.

I don't remember if I heard Aang and everyone else call out for me, the roar of the rain wouldn't have allowed me to, I don't remember crying my eyes out for the first five minutes of my run. I don't remember falling and getting soaked with mud, and I don't remember having that rock jabbed up my knee.

All I did remember was that I didn't care how hard the water poured itself on me and soaked me to the bone, I couldn't care if I was bleeding and my knee was biting at me with pain. All I cared was finding Zuko and making sure he was safe.

That alone made me ignore the pain and the cold. It made me remember that I had to do something and I wasn't going to let anything stop me.

I ran and pushed with all my might, my eyes stung with salt and rain water my hair had become undone somehow on the way and the watermelon sized raindrops pushed it down to my neck and back. My clothes clung to my body not providing the correct protection against the icy cold water that burned at my skin.

But regardless I scanned my surroundings and called out his name, I had forgotten for a moment I could Waterbend and when I realized this I had managed to bend an invisible umbrella over my head.

It could only hold for a while due to the force the rain hit the umbrella, but it was in that only while that I had seen him.

There sitting on the top of a boulder. Elbows on knees, head bent down low, hair dripping with water, clothes clung and straw hat thrown to the ground. I stared in amazement.

I realized how hard I was breathing when I saw him turn his head and look at me; his eyes killed me at that very moment.

I was left rooted to the muddy ground, my eyes wide and my breath quickened. There was so much pain, so much sadness, so much self hatred, so much fear, so much. Too much for me to take.

I felt tears form around my eyes once more, large warm tears that mixed with the rain when they escaped. He continued to stare at me with that look, his lips slightly parted revealing the end of a grimace. His face looked tired, his body screamed exhaustion. What had he been doing out here?

"Zuko?" I called. He didn't reply, instead he looked back down and closed his eyes. The rain beat upon our backs mercilessly.

I began to walk closer to him, mud dripped from my skirts and pants, my knee began to throb rather painfully.

"Zuko?" I repeated, now closer to him. He looked at me once more but not at my face, he had noticed my knee. Damn.

"…" he said nothing; he just sat there letting the rain beat him, letting it soak him. I realized right there this wasn't Zuko. This meek little kitten couldn't be the jerk I knew so well, this scared child couldn't be the man that I had grown to admire for his stubbornness and his determination.

What replaced that man was a person who seemed to have given up, who had believed he had nothing more to lose. And I wanted to find out why.

"What's happened to you?" I asked, the tears stopped falling Zuko sat up straighter now, his poker face came back.

"What would it matter to you?" he stated, the rain provided the only sound besides the dead silence that took space between us. "Please…" I whispered after a while, his ears perked up as though he were straining to hear me. "I want to know why."

Zuko scoffed. "You've been prying in far too long." He spat, I looked up at him in shock. H-he knew? He sent a glare my way, "Yea I know," he said as though he had read my mind. "I know how you continuously ask my uncle about things that shouldn't even concern you. I know how you won't cease to dig in and yank at my business, I know how you always ask questions and no matter how many times Uncle Iroh tells you, you don't wish to stop." He stood up suddenly.

He jumped off from the boulder and didn't stumble, his eyes burned with anger. "Now you will listen to me if you want answers." He growled. I cringed at his steely tone, "everything that happens to me is none of your goddamned business," he took a step forward. "Everything that has occurred to me will never be part of your goddamned business," he began to corner me his voice slowly began to crescendo as I tried to back away. I felt my back connect with a tree; Zuko stood over me his eyes full to the breaking point of rage. "And everything that is happening to me will STAY out of you goddamned business, understand!" he bellowed, I recoiled away from his boom, looking away.

I heard a whistle past my ear and a hard slam right next to my right ear, I looked up quickly and saw his fist right next to my face, his hand was shrouded in smoke. I looked back at Zuko, I was afraid for that very moment. In fact I had no doubt my eyes were telling him this. His glare made the hairs on my neck stand on end, his face closer to mine than I wished it to be.

I shut my eyes quickly and wrapped my arms around myself. "I…I just-" I stuttered. He didn't bother letting my finish.

"Why do you even care anyway?" he hissed, his other fist connected with the other side of the tree, I tried not to whimper. "Why do you want to know so much?" he grasped my shoulder, I gasped and looked up. His golden orbs locked with mine. "Just tell me the truth." He whispered. There was something in his eyes that made me forget where I was, that made me forget that the rain was beginning to lighten, that made me forget why I even began asking questions in the first place.

"Tell me the truth!" he exclaimed, his eyes pleaded to me painfully, his anger seemed to be replaced with dread.

"You want to know why?" I cried suddenly, I stared fiercely within his eyes. He looked taken aback, his hands he removed and placed them at his side, bracing himself for what I would tell him. "You want to know why I always dig in and never mind my own business?" I threw my hand to the side. Beginning to walk towards him, he started moving back his eyes never leaving mine. "It's because I worry, Zuko! Everyday I see you hurt yourself and cause yourself pain, everyday I see you recoil within yourself, your pain only visibly through your eyes. It came to a point where it was too much!" I exclaimed, I never stopped myself from speaking anymore. My eyes were pouring for the third time that day. But I felt like I was truly crying, like something was being let go within myself.

"It became too much for me to take, seeing you like this!" my voice cracked, a sob racked my body, but I still never removed my eyes from his. His eyes wide from shock, surprise and amazement, as though he had never expected something like this to ever happen. "I had to ask, I had to pry." I felt my shoulders shake as I finally looked away, my chest hurt unbearably.

"I had to because…" I opened my eyes…the storm's rage began to pass over; rain was all that was left of its remains. "Because…" I looked at him finally, his eyes still wide, his body rigid as though he was trying to contain himself from doing something he regretted, and there was that pain in his eyes again. I walked towards him, nearing closer. "Because it hurt too much, to see you like that…it broke my heart." I wobbled as I stumbled over a rock in the mud. "It made me realize..." I looked up at him; I felt as though my heart was bleeding for him, he stared at me, eyes trying to see what I was trying to say. I looked down, my voice barely above a whisper, but the rain had already come to a halt.

"…That I had fallen in love with you."

Silence.

I stood there, listening my eyes shut, hoping for him to say anything, to insult me, to scream at me, to hit me, anything to spare me from this horrid dead silence…I wanted to hear him say something that made me realize what I had done was not in vain…I didn't notice I had fallen to my knees, my knee numb from constant ignored pain.

Alas, I saw his feet turn and he turned around. He was about to walk away when I jerked my hand to his pant leg, he stopped.

"I'm sorry." I choked out, my throat burned and my eyes stung like hell. I felt weak and hopeless, my energy felt drained. "I'm sorry…"

I slowly raised my head, my eyes locked once again with Zuko's own. His eyes stared at me strangely and I could only stare back.

His eyes shifted to the side, and I realized maybe everything I have done was in vain. Maybe I shouldn't have been meddling in…no I shouldn't have meddled. It was never my place to do so…and he was going to remind me of that…I knew it.

I looked down and bowed my head low, waiting for him to scowl at me and growl out insults and many other horrid things…I heard a ruffle and I braced myself, my grasp on his pant leg tightened water ran down my arm. My body felt cold and exhausted from running in the pouring rain, my hair still stuck to my neck and back began to tickle and drip, the light noise made me realize he wasn't doing anything. I opened my eyes slightly and saw his hand before me.

I opened my eyes fully and looked up at him rapidly. A question in my mind I wanted to ask never left my lips as I had instinctively let go of his pant leg and grabbed on to his warm hand.

He helped me up, his eyes looked away a different pain was found within his golden pools, his lips tightened in a straight firm line.

I stared at him until he managed to look back down at me; we neared one another, his hand pulled me to him, I smiled. I released my hold on his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck; I covered my face on his shoulder and sobbed. I closed my eyes in fear that if I let go…I would have to let go forever.

I felt his arms wrap around my waist and back awkwardly, and soon he tightened his hold almost protectively. I wept on his shoulder and felt myself grow warm as he heated his hold on me. His face burrowed in the crook of my neck and the two of us remained in each other's arms for a while. Neither saying a word…I stopped crying after he began to breathe comfortingly in my ear.

This wasn't the Zuko I had been used to…this wasn't the Zuko that had made life for me and my friends hell…this was the Zuko I had fallen in love with…The Zuko that had made me feel so much pain…

The Zuko I never thought I would care about so deeply if I hadn't been so nosy in the first place…the Zuko that had whispered in my ear almost too softly that very moment…

"Thank you, Katara."

XXXX

FIN

This has been the longest drabble I've ever written…and probably the one I've dedicated mostly…if you've noticed my other fanfics just stopped…well they didn't I just lost a large sense of inspiration…and it's taking a while to get it back…I might erase Prove them Wrong however…it isn't really going the way I want it to go. Well people, you know what to do. Leave me your feed back, and possibly suggestions for any drabbles you might want to see up.

This drabble did not have a kiss, and I know many of you may have been dying for it…but there will be more where that came from! XD you can bet your flappin heads on it!


	3. Fight for Dominion

Third drabble! YAY for me! Well here it is, and there's that kiss I promised you people! Please don't hesitate to leave me reviews!

Disclaimer: ATLA _would_ be mine if I wasn't so lazy at times, and besides the almighty Creators are doing just fine without me intruding but here's something that I do own.

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He kissed her.

He put in all the hatred, lust, and love that had grown in the space of 3 days in that very kiss. His kiss had grown violent and passionate, breathing deeply and heavily as the kiss grew to be an all out fight, Katara would grab on to his semi-grown out hair and then slid her hands down to his chest before separating and pushing him to a wall. Zuko grunted and turned the tables; he snatched her by the fore arms and twisted her around before slamming her to the wall. She growled in pain, as she jerked her hands once more to him, once again it was a battle of tongues and lips. He ravaged and fondled her, her moans fed the monster within him.

This girl who had taunted him so much and had humiliated him so much was now at his command.

Katara grabbed him by the wrist before turning around and pulled with all her might. Zuko crashed to the floor, but he had been holding on to her the moment she had grabbed on, so he pulled her down with him.

"I'm not going down without a fight." He growled, claiming her lips with his own, she rolled over and pinned her to the ground, he snatched her wrists and pulled them up, locking her legs underneath his weight. She began to struggle, "Let go." She hissed.

"Over my dead body." Zuko didn't waste precious time or else his strategy would fall to pieces, if he was to break her he was to make her suffer. He kissed her once more, with more passion than anything, she moaned and kissed back twice as hard, it was his turn to moan.

The war began once more, and during their small battle Katara had managed to wriggle on of her hands out of his hold and grabbed him by he neck pulling her towards him. The kept this going until after a while they began to tire. Finally Katara lay on top of him breathing hard, Zuko held her by the waist the two stared into each other's eyes with hatred unimaginable.

"You think you've won this?" He growled. Katara glared hard at him, "You want me to prove it?"

"Bring it on, peasant."

"With pleasure, scumbag." Zuko pushed her off and lunged at her, their lips and knew found adrenaline pushed against the others in this game of love.

Taking this to the next level, Zuko found his way passed her clothes and caressed for the slightest moment the soft flesh of her belly. Katara and Zuko both realized this and began to fight one another for the other's dominion, a new found strategy and a new found way to tell each other how much they hate one another.

"I'm going to make you burn."

"Shut up and kiss me you bastard."

And so they began…

XXX

Man, can you believe I'm having a hard time not writing the other part of this? I'm not into lemons but citrus and lime was all I could put here. Well Review peeps and let me know what you think so far.

I'm open for suggestions!

Mido-Ao


	4. Arguments Lead To

Well I decided to revamp the first few chapters of my series. I figured a good Summer-Cleaning would do. Hahaha

Disclaimer: Oh yeah...I soo own Avatar. Can you just tell?

XXXXXXX

...

...

It had been one month. They had been marooned, for one _freaking MONTH_ on this pathetic little island. No one had shown up to rescue them, no one had shown up. At…ALL…

Zuko swore if he had to stay_ one_ more day with _her_…He would probably kill her.

"…So that when Aang realized that Toph would be a great earthbending teacher. I didn't think much of it, you know. Aang was the one who had to choose. Her family, on the other hand was pretty adamant about not letting her come with us. I thought they would throw us in jail or something…" She was rambling.

He lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Building a shelter would be a whole lot more productive if she just shut her pretty little mouth for a few minutes.

"…And then she just showed up, running towards us with a big smile on her face. I had never seen Aang so relieved in my life. I was pretty relieved too, we didn't have to keep looking for another earth bending teacher. So Aang had jumped off of Appa and…"

"Katara…" Zuko finally called, his eyes shut as he tried to calm himself down. She finally stopped, and he could feel her gaze on him. "Could you please…just stay quiet for a while?" He asked her.

"…I was just trying to make conversation, Zuko." She said, her tone somewhat offended. "You know to pass the time. You've been nothing but silent this entire time since last week."

Zuko heaved a deep sigh. "Can you at least try to make an attempt at being social?" She was annoyed now, her tone dry.

Zuko turned around with an equally dry look on his face. Katara was standing with a makeshift fishing pole dug on the ground, her gaze expectant and irritated. He didn't fail to notice how she was in her under clothes. The white material hugging her form in a most remarkable way, her long hair was pulled up into a messy braid. Messy enough to have several locks escape.

It would take a miracle for Zuko to admit that she was very attractive. But he knew she was, and he knew that she was strong enough to really drive him wild. In a good way and a bad way.

Careful not to lick his lips, Zuko glared at her before turning around and continuing to fix their so called 'shelter'. Maybe now she would stay quiet for a while and get a clue...He was trying to ignore her...and her amazing figure...

"Zuko…" Zuko let his shoulders droop. He didn't know how long he had to put up with her.

"What_ now_, Katara?" he asked gruffly, trying to keep his mind from straying to her clothes.

"You know what? Never mind, you can do whatever you want." Katara stated, huffing as she turned her attention back to her fishing. Zuko inhaled deeply and exhaled forcefully he raised his head and a stream of fire escaped from his mouth.

"What did I do this time?" he asked with such radiating exasperation, it made Katara blink curiously, but only for a second. She looked at him and sighed.

"Oh no, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one who keeps bothering you with my boring stories." She stated, on edge.

Zuko stared at her, "Wait, hold on. _You're_ getting mad at _me_?" he asked, frustrated. She glared at him. "Oh, come on! Look, all I want is just some peace and quiet! It's not too much to ask, Katara!"

"All I was doing was trying to fill in the space!" She yelled back, throwing her fists to her sides. "A week ago you couldn't wait to pick a fight!" She was storming up to him, Zuko held his ground. "We had three whole days of silence, Zuko, and all this quiet is driving me crazy!!"

"You haven't stopped talking for four hours, Katara! All this 'conversation'" Zuko made quote signs with his fingers, "is driving _me_ crazy!!

"Ugh! You're so hopeless!" She leaned back, arching her head to the sky. Zuko saw clearly well the shape of her neck and the structure of her front for a moment. Cursing his hormones, he looked away. "It's a MIRACLE that you're uncle hasn't left you while you two were traveling, you can't hold a conversation, even if you wanted to!"

Zuko huffed, turning back his attention on her. Outraged by her accusations, and embarrassed by his own staring, Zuko shot fire from his fists as he closed the distance between them. "I SO can hold a conversation!" He shouted.

"Well you've done a remarkable job proving _that_, Zuko!" Katara snapped back, poking his chest hard with a finger. He was certain she could do other things with that hand...

"Ugh!" Zuko exclaimed, grabbing at his hair and tugging. "You're so unbelievably impossible! I have NO idea how the Avatar could deal with such a blabbering girl!"

Scoffing loudly in anger Katara pushed him, "Well he actually talked BACK, Zuko!"

"Well I don't see him here, do you?!" Zuko slapped her hand off him, for many reasons aside from anger. "He's probably having such a good time right now without you talking him to death!"

"I do NOT talk him to death!" She shot back, this time feeling worried.

"Well you sure aren't proving _that_ to me!"

"UGH! FINE! If you want so much quiet time, Zuko, then I'll just leave and you can find your own food and find your own way to get out of this forsaken island!" and with that Katara turned and stormed off into the direction of the trees.

"You're just going to leave me here?!" Zuko yelled at her back. She quickly turned around and threw her arms up, and Zuko saw the wave of ocean water too late.

Thoroughly soaked and angry, he breathed fire. "FINE! LEAVE THEN! I DON'T NEED YOU!! I'VE SURVIVED PLENTY OF TIMES BY MYSELF!!"

Katara didn't say anything she just kept walking. Zuko growled and shot fire at the sand. "Stupid girl!"  
Turning around he angrily began to finish his job, muttering about stupid beautiful water tribe girls that couldn't keep their mouths shut.

About three to four hours passed and Katara hadn't returned to the camp the two of them were sharing, and the anger and flames had long since died followed by a racking guilt and worry. Zuko stood by the fire, cooking two small fishes that Katara's fishing line had nabbed, staring intently at the fire as he tried to make sense of the situation.

He really hadn't meant to yell at her, but she was just so frustrating sometimes! It was bad enough that he kept staring at her while she was around. He blamed it on himself, since he had last sprained his ankle and had watched her gently heal him and that time he almost broke his collarbone when she almost fell from that tree after trying to fetch fruit. She had healed him then too, and it was at that moment, he figured, that he most likely started to really notice her. It had made him edgy.

Every time she was near or stood relatively close, his hands would tremble slightly and his heart would race. It made him feel horribly inadequate. So they would argue a whole lot more and he would fine some sort of release in making her explode like that. At least then his face would be red and she would assume it was out of anger.

But she had never really marched off, leaving him alone. Now Zuko was beyond worried about her. She was probably off doing whatever she wanted and paying no heed to him at all. Shaking his head he tried to focus on other things.

Glaring at the embers before him, he realized how long it's been since he really let out a bunch of fire like that…not since that time when he was at Li's village and he had used all that power in anger at those wretched men. He didn't know what it was about that girl that really set him off, but she managed to always push his buttons and succeed in making him blow up.

He remembered how bright her eyes were as she yelled at him, throwing her voice at him as if she could control him. It both excited him and made him want to strangle her. Who did she think she was, yelling at the fire prince like that?

He groaned. Then again he was acting like a jerk. He didn't have to shut her up so much. She was trying to be civil whilst he just tried to ignore her. It wasn't fair for her to have to put up with him like that. Glaring at the setting sun, Zuko knew that he would have to apologize to her.

Then again how would she reply to him? Would she laugh and mock him? Or just throw water at him? Or maybe she would just smile and hug him like he had seen her hug Aang?

Zuko felt his face warm and his heart race again. Ugh, this was ridiculous! How was he supposed to act? All of this was just so sudden that he really didn't know what to really do. Should he try to woo her or just pretend that this was just a phase he would grow out of?

_None of that would matter if you never found her and apologized first. _Zuko sighed.

_If you can find her… _Standing up abruptly, Zuko turned and began to up the beach and towards the way Katara had left. The worry and fear for her gripped him, but he was a master tracker. He would be able to find her soon enough, Zuko was grateful that she hadn't been trained not to leave a trail. She had walked for some time, moving this way and that. Zuko was careful to leave marks on trees and such to be able to lead them back.

She probably got lost. Or…worse…

Zuko walked faster now, his red traveling clothes being yanked by branches and shrubs as the vegetation got thicker and thicker as he walked. His bare feet would stumble over rocks and fallen branches and realized that the possibility of falling and breaking an ankle was pretty high now. But as he walked he noticed some leaves and branches looked as if they were sucked dry.

He slowed down when he heard the sound of rushing water and speech. It was far off but he could hear it. Relief spread through his chest, she was alright.

As he neared he could barely catch parts of her conversation, "…You'd think…gosh if only I could just…now…" The closer he got the more he could hear.

"Is it so bad to really feel something?" He heard her say and froze. Listening he made no move to get closer. "I mean…yeah we were enemies at some point and after what he did for me to avenge my mom…I realize that we're friends now…but…"

Zuko felt his heart begin to race. _Is she talking about me? _

"Look, I know you're a frog and everything and you can't understand me and talking to a frog is possibly the most ridiculous thing ever and only weird people talk to frogs anyway..." She paused. He waited feeling slightly insulted for some strange reason.

"But...I think…I think I really like him now."

Zuko forgot to breathe then, his hand clutched at a nearby branch, unconciously leaning in to hear more. "I mean, sure he can be such a jerk and have completely no regard for other people not to mention being a complete angsty teenager at times…" Zuko frowned._ Angsty? She thought he was full of angst? Well…okay maybe he was…but with good reason! _

"…But…" Zuko continued to listen, "he's shown me how selfless he is." She was speaking warmly now and Zuko really felt his heart race then.

"He can be very kind and gentle…and resourceful…and smart…and handsome…" She trailed off and he felt his cheeks warm. "And his scar…" Zuko felt his insides freeze, whatever good feeling he was experiencing froze as his stomach began to drop.

"I used to think it was so…horrible…" Zuko felt his heart sink and his hand rise to cover said blemish. "But now…I just can't picture him without it."

He felt torn, he didn't know what she meant by that. "Not saying that's a bad thing…" She continued. "I don't see why but…it just…it makes him who he is…" He heard her sigh. "Ugh…he probably thinks I'm this annoying brat who won't leave him alone."

Zuko frowned, somewhat feeling caught. "Maybe I should. Just leave him alone…"

He moved, then. Walking past branched and trees, getting closer and closer. He heard her gasp and heard leaves crumble and rustle; she must've been sitting down. He finally saw her over a big bush, her hands up holding a large whip of water from the river by her side and saw her jaw drop.

"Zuko?" She stammered, and he stepped into sight. She dropped the water by her feet, freezing. A breeze ruffled leaves and their clothing and Zuko moved a hand over his eyes to brush the hair that dared to blind him. At that point Zuko didn't know what to say. Silence set between them aside from the sound of rustling leaves from the trees and the rush of the river. He fidgeted suddenly, and kicked himself mentally for not preparing to talk to her. She waited for him to speak, her eyes wide almost panicky.

"Uh…I wanted to speak to you…" Zuko started lamely, his eyes were not drifting away from how her braid was swinging in the breeze, and how her clothes were floating around her along with it. He cleared his throat as she shifted under his gaze.

"…Did you hear…?" She asked her voice really high. Zuko blushed, nodding. "Yeah…most of it anyway…" She slapped her hands to her face. Her face gone red, embarrassed. Zuko felt awkward then, it was obvious she had not intended for him to hear. Dropping her hands she shifted to face him.

"Look, Zuko…" she started, keeping her gaze on her hands. "What I said back there…uh…"

"Was it the truth?" he interrupted, she gaze snapped up to his, surprised. "What?"

Zuko straightened and gazed at her intently. "Was what you said…the truth?" he asked slowly. He vaguely started to notice that fireflied were beginning to fly around them, the growing darkness letting crickets and other night creatures begin to wake.

She began to fidget and squirm, Zuko knew she was debating whether she should tell him the truth or not was wise enough. "All I need to hear…is if you meant it at all."

Katara looked at him for a moment and looked away. She stayed quiet for a moment and Zuko almost began to dread her answer. Then she nodded. "It was the truth…"

"Oh…" Zuko felt his knees weaken, his heart kept racing and his face had done no better than to keep reminding him of that fact. Katara hid her face from him; she turned around so her back faced him. _So…she did like him. _Suddenly he could feel lightheadedness spread over his body.

"So…do you have…anything to say?"

The question almost made Zuko jump, confused. "What are you trying to say?" he asked, her voice trembling slightly.

She sighed as she turned around rather slightly; he was facing her side as she stared into the water's shimmering surface. "I mean…Well you kind of just heard me say that I…um…"

"Yeah…" Zuko said, wary. Taking an unconscious step forward he leaned closer to hear her. She looked alarmed then, and looked as though she was trying to see if she could run or face him.

"It's just…I was wondering if you had anything to say about…"

"I know how you're feeling…" he said before he could stop himself. She faced him again, not sure what he was trying to say. He frowned, feeling somewhat confused again. What was he trying to say? "Look…I'm sorry." He said, and he saw her pale over the thin light of the fire flies and the fading light of the day.

"No, no!" He panicked, "Not like that I mean I'm sorry about yelling at you! …earlier…"

She seemed to compose a little more, still uncertain. "It's just…this is kind of sudden for me." He said, looking away. His cheeks burning bright, "The thing is…I've been feeling really…strongly…about you…for the past two weeks…and I didn't think it would be possible that you would…"

"Feel the same way?" Zuko looked back at her, seeing a sudden glow in her eyes. His chest felt light and heavy at the same time, "Y-yeah…" He stammered. Katara shook her head, her eyes wide. She looked back at him and began to walk towards him.

Zuko really didn't know what to do. "So…are you saying that…you think you…?" She asked her face bright and pink, shyly, "That you…actually feel the same way…or…?" She finally stood directly in front of him.

Zuko flushed, his heart began to race again. He breathed and felt the airy feeling give him more confidence. Grabbing her hand he raised it to his chest and pressed it on his thundering heart.

"I think that I really care about you…very much." Katara gasped softly, almost inaudibly. Zuko looked at her eyes and saw the wonder and awe in them. He hadn't realized he had sort of admitted his feelings to her and to himself at that moment.

As if his body was being controlled by something powerful and liberating, he felt his hand lift her chin and leaned in. Gently, pressing his lips against hers, he closed his eyes. Katara had stood very still, and as she felt her own lips return the motion, she relaxed.

The kiss lasted ten seconds at most, but the feeling felt as if it had lasted only one short moment. When they parted Zuko watched her eyes open and look at him. He worried, and feared that she would let him go and walk off again. But she smiled, softly, and embraced him.

Her hug, wrapped around his neck and she buried her face in his neck. Zuko held on to her, awkwardly at first but then he tightened his hold, breathing her in, trying to memorize her sweet perfume. They held each other, and when they parted she rested her forehead against his.

Zuko never thought he would feel this way, especially with this girl, and as they walked back he let her talk about anything at that moment. Zuko, feeling complete and happy for once in his life, never wanted to stop listening to her talk.

...

...

XXX

Yeah…much better. So I fixed it.

Might as well make it a whole lot longer.

Review please! Let me know what you think!

Mido-Ao


	5. Not Again

Fifth Drabble coming up!

Disclaimer: It's not that I don't own it, It's just It's not mine…get it?

xxxxx

A sharp intake of breath.

A grunt followed by concentrated amounts of chi grasped and transformed into kinetic heat, Fire exploding as oxygen allowed it to breathe into deadly life..

Golden orbs looked sharply to the left and the right, sweat poured down the side of his face and his breath came in short shallow gasps.

Where was his sister?

He could feel her very presence behind him, he reacted.

He growled as he turned sharply, kicking the air behind him he frowned in concentration to see nothing.

Crickets chirped and the cold moist air stuck the back of his shirt to his skin, perspiration ran down his back and neck. He was through with these sick games of hers, He was going to avenge his uncle if it was the last thing he'd do.

"Can you see me, Zuzu?" he heard her voice whisper in his ear, he froze for a split second before thinking quickly he instantly set his entire body aflame, similar to what he had done in Li's village. He was pissed off.

"It seems you're through playing games." She hissed tauntingly again in his ear, he threw his flames farther around him. "Let's play a last game then." Azula's voice sounded nearby, Zuko turned and ran towards it. "For old time's sake, right Oni-san?" She laughed lowly as he jumped over a few roots and over a few low branches.

"It's called 'I spy." She began to let out a cackle, Zuko felt his blood run cold.

No…

"Shall we begin, Oni-san?" she cooed, he struggled to see her searching for a sign of her but all there was was her voice. He felt dread fill his very core, she did something. "What have you done, Azula!" He shouted within the darkness of the night. "Very well…" she giggled. "I spy with my little eye…"

He felt an intense amount of heat strike his back pushing him forward into a clearing. He groaned, the spot hit on his back was burning painfully. It was causing his eyesight to blur, "Something…blue." Zuko's head jerked upwards as his eyes widened in horror.

Zuko felt every pore within his body grow numb, sweat ran down his forehead and down his arms. His eyes glued to what his sister had now done…

Brown hair hung over the sides of the face like curtains, clothes ripped to shreds the girl was almost nude except traces of her skirt and shirt that kept her secrets hidden away. Burns scarred mocha skin, blood ran down her lip and forehead, she was being held up by a cross shaped stake, arms tied to the sides. Her ankles tied together.

Her face had still fresh tears on it, her eyes closed in dream…Zuko could only stare in horror.

"What have you done…?" he whispered into the unknown, the cackles of his sister would forever taunt him, he felt himself fall to rage, to fear, to hatred.

He was going to make Azula _bleed._

"AZULA!" He snarled, yelling his lungs out as he felt fire shot from within himself, his short hair and clothes would be the only things spared from his monstrosity.

"Come and get me Oni-san."

"She better be alive." He hissed hatefully before turning around and concentrated like he's never done so before. He scanned through the trees with his eyes, his fire shooting forthwith feeling around for the presence of his sister.

He found her.

She had gasped in surprised and had come out into the open. Zuko hesitated no longer, he rushed in and began to attack her, she would block and counter his attacks. But he would not give up, his barrages grew stronger by the moment as slowly his fire turned azure.

"Impossible." He heard her grunt, he could care less he was going to make her suffer as she had made him suffer. All those years of taunting of being put down, of being ignored and mocked, would all be avenged. His uncle will be avenged, The girl will be avenged…

He will be avenged.

Kick, Slide, flip, turn and shoulder crush, roundhouse kick, uppercut. Eight hits connected and he heard her yelp in surprise as his flames began to eat away at her clothes and into her flesh.

Every hit was stronger than the last as memories of being with the girl slowly found their way through his mind.

The first time they fought together. Zuko grabbed her hair and yanked, the hair pin fell to the ground as her dark black hair cascaded down.

The first time he protected her. Zuko jump kicked and dodged a lightning strike.

The first time he watched over her. He growled as he felt her nails dig into his cheek, hot crimson ran down his cheek.

The first time he found out he cared about her. Azula kicked him twice in the face, he dodged the last one dropped to the floor and kicked her off balance.

The first time he had spoken her name with care, _'Katara.'_ He was grabbed by the throat and thrown to the ground; Azula grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his head up, forcing him to see her again.

The first time he told her he loved her. Zuko cursed at her and felt her press a finger on his throat, her claw like nail pressed dangerously deep within his skin. He could feel a bead of blood emerge from a puncture and slide down his neck.

The first time he had kissed her... "Look at her Zuko, feel pain like you've never before, I hope you know she's dying." Azula hissed into his ear. "I'm going to make you watch her hands go limb and the light leave her eyes." She chuckled into his ear he squirmed. "Then I can truly enjoy seeing you feel pain stronger than anything you've ever felt."

The first time he held her in the rain.

The first time he though he had almost lost her…and cried.

"Look at her Zuko." Azula bit into his ear, Zuko growled as he began to thrash about. Her claws were the only things that kept him still. Zuko slowly began to look back at the horrid sight, her eyes were half open. There was a grimace on those lips.

"Z-Zuko…" she began. Zuko's eyes widened as he suddenly began to thrash around stronger, he didn't care whether Azula was almost completely choking him right now…he wanted to get her and hug her and tell her everything was going to be alright.

"Z-Zuko…" she coughed out blood, Zuko's eyes shut suddenly as he heard the splatter of blood hit the ground with a sickening splash. "Watch her Oni-san, she's in agony." Azula whispered into his ear.

"She thinks you've betrayed her, That you've betrayed them all…and she's going to die believing that…I assure you."

"NO!" Zuko exploded. Azula was thrown back a few feet away, she looked up to see her brother stand over her, his eyes nearly red with fury, fists burning in blue and red. "What're you going to do…?" Azula laughed suddenly. "Kill me?" Zuko's eyes slowly narrowed. "We both know you're not up to killing your family, You couldn't even allow Zhao to die without feeling guilty about it." Azula began to stand up, Zuko stood closer to her lifting a hand near her throat.

"What makes you think you've got the stomach to murder?" Azula spat. Zuko bared his teeth, "You're right, I can't kill you." He said softly. Azula began to smirk to herself until Zuko pressed his hand against her head. "But who said I can't leave you a permanent scar?"

Azula's eyes widened as He sent his hand aflame.

The shriek that followed was heard throughout the entire woods as Zuko watched with dread fascination the tissue around her left eye burn and melt, blood ran down her face. Zuko removed his hand and watched her press her hands against her face before the pain was too much and she dropped unconscious to the ground.

Zuko turned around and ran towards the girl. He burned off the bindings and held her in his arms.

"Katara…" he whispered softly, her eyes opened and fluttered close to open again. "Stay with me, Katara. You're going to be ok." He whispered anxiously. Straining his brain to remember where the creek was. She groaned, "Come on Katara, you can't die on me, hold on." He stood up, holding her in his arms before breaking into a run.

He sped with such speed a that the cold air around him felt colder and wetter around them.

That's it!

"Katara, can you bend the moisture in the air?" He asked anxiously. She groaned in response, "Katara don't go to sleep…don't sleep!" He saw her eyes widen and look at him, "Zuko…" she whispered. "Bend the water Katara…Bend it…now!" he cried to her. Katara lifted a hand and tried to concentrate.

"You can do it, come on just a little more!" a small orb began to grow within her palm, Zuko felt new found hope burn within his chest. "Go Katara, GO!" the orb grew bigger and spread around her palm like a glove. "Heal, Katara." He whispered encouragingly.

She groaned and moaned in pain before pressing the glove to her chest. The water spread around her body slowly, the burns disappearing, the cuts and bruises mending back to normal.

But suddenly it stopped.

"Katara?" Zuko's eyes widened as he saw her eyes begin to fade. "KATARA!"

"I…love you." She whispered. "Remember me…" Zuko felt himself grow desperate. "NO, KATARA YOU'RE GOING TO BE FINE!" He cried, his eyes growing hot and prickly. "Please, I can't lose you again…hold on."

"You're going to live Katara!" Zuko growled despite the clench in his chest.Her eyes fluttered close and he panicked. No he wasn't going to let his happen, not again! Last time was too close he won't letit happen at all!"Wake up vagabond!" he instantly pressed his lips on hers into a desperate kiss. Slowly he felt her kiss him back, he didn't care whether she was too weak…he kissed her with his life.

"I love you…" he said in between kisses. He looked into her eyes one last time. "Don't leave me…" tears began to fully fall down his cheeks, his voice cracked painfully as he squeezed her into a hug. "Don't leave me…" he repeated.

"I won't…" she whispered.

Her eyes glazed.

Xxxxx

Man angsty much! O.O man I swear, it think this is going to be the most deadliest of the oneshot/drabbles here. Man…Well leave me reviews people!

Later!

Mido-Ao


	6. Matchmaking in disguise Prt 1

Drabble number six!

I know I haven't written in a while and I hope you all will forgive me. But I've been busy, My family moving out of state, me going with them…man Miami will be missed greatly. Any one who's reading this and currently resides in Utah in Eagle mountain, and here about a family moving in, that might just be mine! LOL any who here's the end of rambling and the start and reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA; I would like it for my birthday though…then again wishes hardly come true. TTTT

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Zuko held a hand over his eyes to cover the sun from his offended eyes. He groaned as he felt his head throb painfully as he tried to sit up. What…happened? He looked around, realizing it was noon and he was currently laying right next to a thin but bountiful stream.

His head ached and felt rather heavy.

He began to prop himself on his elbows but felt something heavy…and light at the same time…pull him down. He looked down to see what was that kept him pinned and felt the heat rush to his cheeks all the while freezing from moving as his jaw dropped.

A figure clad in blue with a very familiar braid was lain on top of him. Her left arm hung limp on the ground while the other was placed delicately on his chest. She groaned. Zuko felt his blood run cold, as she began to stir and open her Ocean clear orbs.

She shifted her chin and shifted her legs and waist, Zuko felt himself struggling not to nosebleed, her legs were spread making the skirt raise higher above her legs, which were apparently bare.

Calm yourself Zuko, he scolded himself, you're NOT drooling over a Water Brat. He tried not to breathe as any movement would make her look to him, but there was no escaping the inevitable.

She finally looked up blinking, and instantly her eyes shot open from their former drowsy state to a look of sheer horror and surprise. Her cheeks flushed crimson as he felt her body go rigid.

It was in that moment she cried out in shock and threw herself off him, Zuko scrambled away from her and stood to his feet. Katara looked at him with a shocked look and a hand to her chest.

"W-what the hell were you doing!" She cried out pointing a finger at him rudely. Zuko looked slightly taken aback before growling. How dare this wench suddenly blame him!

"What was I doing!" Zuko cried back indignant, jerking a thumb at his chest. "You were on top of ME!" Katara's shoulder hunched before spinning around. "Well it's not like I would throw myself at you!" She scoffed. "Then please care to explain WHAT the hell you were doing on me!" Zuko shot at her, she glared at him.

"I don't know, I was just walking back to camp minding my own business until you pushed me down this hill here…next thing I know I'm on top of you!" She crossed her arms and stuck her nose high in the air. Zuko flared, "I did not push you!"

"Then what the hell did you do?" She shot at him spitefully. "All I remember was walking away from camp telling that blind girl to leave me alone until suddenly I felt the ground move beneath my feet and throw me to the side, Then YOU out of nowhere jumped in the way and hit me in the head! And all of a sudden you were on me!"

"I did not hit you!" Katara whipped her hand to the side to prove her point her blue eyes turned icy. "Wonderful so I have a splitting head ache for no reason then eh?" Zuko scoffed.

Katara rolled her eyes, "You are such an arrogant-"

"Don't start with me now wench." Zuko growled. They glared at each other harshly before turning their backs towards the other. It wasn't long until he heard her sigh that he felt himself close his eyes in frustration.

"Look," she began, "We're just really annoyed at one another because our heads hurt and we were caught off guard, but if we get out of here quicker we can come with a solution…Kay?"

He turned his head slightly and saw her turned around herself. He sighed and ran a hand through his short black hair. "Whatever." He grumbled.

Katara nodded with a tiny smile and turned back to the hill before them. It was rather steep and kind of high up but they would manage. "Come on." She said, Zuko turned around, arms still crossed. "The others must be looking for us, and Sokka won't be happy to know I've been with you all this time." She said beginning to walk up the hill. Zuko rolled his eyes and let his arms droop to his sides. "Yea, like I'm going to do anything to you anyways." He retorted, but looked up rather quickly to see her stumble when her foot stepped over a rock. "Whoa." She said softly as she tried to regain her balance but her foot was suddenly turned the other way causing her to turn and fall towards Zuko.

"Hey, easy-!" he started when he caught her in his arms until his lips were found to have another occupation. "Mmmph!" the two let out softly as their lips connected.

Zuko felt shocks of electricity shoot through his body as he felt himself fall backwards, the shock made his own legs stumble.

They crashed to the ground with a thud. Zuko's eyes bore into Katara's for a split second when they separated in mid air but the crash brought them back together. The two shut their eyes tightly as they crashed down, Zuko's back felt as though it was on fire. Rolling over slightly Katara was now the one under.

Arms locked around his neck she pulled away in shock, Zuko held himself up with his hands, Eyes slowly opening the first thing they saw was each other in a sudden glory.

Zuko had probably never seen her so beautiful under him, her hair tossed around form the neat braid, clothes ruffled and brought down, her necklace brought out her eyes more than he had ever noticed.

Katara stared into his golden orbs and felt herself melt; His scar gave him a look so dark that made his other features get strikingly handsome. His short hair was messed slightly to give him an innocent yet very appealing look. For them it felt like an eternity as they stared into each others eyes.

And only a second until they felt each others lips crash into each others once more…this time with a sudden hunger and need the two didn't pull away for quite a while, obviously enjoying the taste of the other that no one else could provide.

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Well hopefully this drabble managed to fill your needs! And hopefully your forgiveness! But the only way I'll know is if you review!

Later,

Mido-Ao


	7. MatchMaking in Disguise prt 2

At long last Drabble number 7! YAY! LOL anyway before I continue there's something I'd like to point out.

I have twenty two reviews…and two thousand and forty three hits…can I ask how in the hell that makes sense? Guys I'm only asking…no begging you all to review. Reviews are a major boost to confidence…as well as hits I mean I can't argue with those numbers…but that twenty two is a real eye twitch. Please just review. Please.

Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Mike Basco and Danny DiMartini…everyone knows that…what they don't know is that slowly it's becoming mine… ((Insert evil laugh)) MWUAHAHAA! (Splat) …never mind…the tomato is causing me too much blindness to own avatar anyway…

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"It worked didn't it?" Aang said giddily as he fidgeted behind the earth bender before him. "If you stopped moving so much I could get a better look." Toph snapped before closing her eyes again. Aang nodded and watched with great anticipation, now if only she could just tell him…

"You remembered to drop the pellets in their drinks right?" She asked suddenly, Aang sighed in frustration as he stretched his cheeks. "For the millionth time, _yes_ I did! I did the whole thing Aunt Wu told us to do, I even went as far as adding an extra helping of ginseng to be sure!" He grasped his crush's shoulders and shook her, her eyes shot open as she was thrown about. "Now tell me, did they do it!"

Even though Toph was blind she could easily tell he was going crazy here, she smirked. "Do what?" She asked innocently. Aang let go of her as he threw his arms in the air and let out an irritated shout. Toph laughed, he was just too easy to tease. "Yeah, they _kissed_, Happy now?" Aang sighed as he slumped near a tree and smiled in content.

"No not really…" Toph grinned at him before sitting next to him, placing a very shy kiss on his cheek she smirked as she heard him say, "Never mind, quite happy now…you wouldn't happen to want to do that again, would you?"

Toph rolled her eyes and suddenly became very rigid; quickly she stood and walked near the direction of camp. Aang looked up curiously as he watched her face turn bright red. "Hey, you ok?" He asked as he stood towards her. She backed away very suddenly. "H-how much Ginseng did you add?" She asked carefully.

"About four tablespoons…" He shrugged. "Why?" Toph hid her face further with her hair and covered her mouth slightly. "You…do know that Ginseng increases hormone activity right?" Aang looked confused now, what did that have to do with…_oh._

"We should go back to camp." He said hastily, his own face turning red. Toph nodded vigorously. "quickly, we have to keep Sokka at bay before—"

"OH SHIT!" A shriek echoed across the woods they were in. Toph and Aang exchanged paled looks before running towards the direction of the sound.

_Oh shit _indeed.

XXXX

And that was part two! Sorry it was so short but…Hope Ya'll enjoyed it! And please review. I BEG OF YOU!

Mido-Ao


	8. How About a Kiss instead?

Ok Drabble number eight is inspired by Vanguard Ziggy's 'Kiss and Tell' Chapter seven.

You'll probably want to read that small chapter though, since I was inspired by that to write this little drabble. (Giggle) so here's the link! (http/ www. fanfiction. net/s/ 2570235 / 7/) Just kinda…remove the spaces and it should set you all off:)

Now without further ado, Here it is!

Disclaimer: I dun own ATLA, nor do I owe the idea in which was born for this drabble, what I DO own is the hot little events in this drabble. Yummy…

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(Oh…by the way this takes place riiiight after the water bending scroll…lol)

One blue eye blinked open after a while of snores. Cautiously the other opened and Katara looked around the camp making sure the boys were well into the land of nod. She grinned to herself as she grabbed the scroll, the second time this week, and headed off into the woods.

Thankfully there was no Momo to urge back to sleep so she rested easy knowing he might not wake them up. 'Now…to find a stream…' she thought to herself perking her ears up to any sound of liquid. She wandered around for a while until she finally heard water.

She brightened up and rushed towards the source.

It was probably the smallest creek she had ever seen, but it would do. She looked up and got into where the moon shed most light, and she was glad it was full moon. She was already opening the scroll up until she heard a twig snap, she froze.

Holding the scroll tightly to her chest, she dared not utter a breath. A moment passed and Katara began to relax, hoping she had not been caught. Suddenly she felt arms snake around her form and she felt herself tense considerably. She tried to scream but fear made her only let out the tiniest of choked gasps.

"Now what would a water peasant be doing out at this time of the night, eh?" A very familiar voice whispered seductively into her ear. Katara's eyes widened and she felt her shoulders tense. "Zuko…" She whispered, her chest hurt from the rate her heart was pumping, the heat rose to her cheeks and by no means comfortingly as she felt him grin by her ear.

"You catch on well, girl." He said leaning in closer, she felt her ear brush against his cheek. "Now, unless you would want anything…bad…to happen to you," He curled and uncurled the fingers that held her at the waist, smirking as he felt her shudder against him. "I'd suggest you'd tell me where the Avatar is."

It was as if she had gotten the fire within her fed that she began to struggle, "I'd never help a monster like you." She hissed, she looked to him through the corners of her eyes, fearing what he might do if she turned her head. But the results weren't what she had wished when her blue eyes locked with his golden ones. She felt the fire almost diminish as he began to chuckle menacingly, "Oh but with your options," He purred, she felt shivers run up and down her spine. "I'm pretty sure you might."

"You wouldn't dare." She murmured, threateningly and fearfully. "I wouldn't…" He said with a quirk of his brow. "Unless you'd help me out, then maybe I'll reconsider."

"I didn't think you'd go for peasant flesh." She spat spitefully, struggling once more against him but he held on tighter, she held back a squeak as she felt one arm press against her chest. "I don't…but it's been a while since I've had…female company…"

Katara tried her best to get him off. "You spoke to me about your honor like it mattered to you." She said hoping for it to take affect. He froze. She smirked. Bingo.

"If you do anything to me, not even the avatar will bring back your honor."

"What would you know about honor, peasant?" He growled softly, Katara almost relaxed, this was the Zuko she knew…The Zuko she didn't fear.

"I would know more about it than you I'm sure." She said turning her face to look him in the eye. Their eyes widened as their lips brushed against the others. Katara tried to pull away as far as possible from him, he almost did too until he remembered what he had been trying to do. He pulled her back and inched his face closer to hers, trying to intimidate her. Now her front was to him, and her hands placed on his toned chest, Golden eyes pierced into blue and she felt herself freeze against him.

"But you wouldn't know what it would be like to lose it then would you, girl?"

"If there's one thing I've learned in life, Zuko," She said after she had found her voice. "Is that Honor can't be lost unless the person allows it to be."

"If you won't take me to the Avatar, I'll make him come to me." Katara's eyes widened as he began to squeeze her closer, "I'll take you…and more than likely he'd likeyour safety in exchange for himself."

Katara shut her eyes close tightly, that was it...she lost. She lost before they even began, He was going to take her away and everything will be all her fault. Continueing to blame herself she froze entirely when her mind drifted to how soft his lips were. 'Dammit!' She cursed in her mind, 'Have I fallen so low to actually find Zuko- my enemy- Appealing!' that was it she was the lowest of the low, next thing she'll know she'll fall in love with him and totally become one pathetic damsel in a crazy situation.

Then she remembered at how he almost pulled away from her...all from that brush...If she dared do something more, he would let go...and she would have her chance. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to go back to the camp and getSokka and Aangout of there. 'Ookay Katara, no matter how gross it seems it's your only chance at freedom!'

"It's your choice girl," She heard him say, she opened her eyes in that moment in between choices. "Show me where your little boyfriend is, or I'll have you on my ship in less than a moment." Katara gulped as she realized this was the time...and it was now or never.

She looked back at him and quickly used what little force left she had to grasp his face in her hands and standing on her tippy toes, "I'm not his girlfriend." She whispered and rammed her lips against his in a heated kiss. It was a shockwave that ran throughout her body that made her lose all other common sense.

Expectinghim to let go and pull away in shock or disgust was what she had been aiming for(even though at that very second part of her wished he wouldn't), but he had frozen there until slowly and amazingly quick he had began to kiss her back, she had never tasted such passion. She moaned as she felt him nip at her lips, she allowed an entrance and the chaste kiss deepened romantically.

Goose bumps rode up her arms and the deepest shiver run up and down her spine, as he began to take domination over the kiss. Breathing deeply and rapidly through their noses she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull them closer.

Oh, what a kiss. The only thought running through her mind was how in the world Prince Zuko ever learned to kiss like that. It was as though gravity pulled them apart as their noses could only bring them enough oxygen, not letting go they leaned their foreheads against each others and breathed in their fill of air.

They looked back at each other and she smirked to him, "So…" She whispered with a provoking tone after pulling him into another kiss, one that didn't last so long as the first. "When will you be kidnapping me?" his response was yet another passion filled lip-lock, Katara smiled to herself as She continued to kiss him, the scroll rolled to the ground completely forgotten.

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I think this won clearly defines a kiss between lust-filled hormone-driven teenager enemies…don't you think? I might just make this a two-part drabble but…I need your little consents to that, I think this one was my best so far…lol and am hoping you all agree…although I'll probably make one like this except more with an edge on it, for a season two drabble…in any case hopefully you all had your yummy shares of kisses in this drabble!

Now review review…or I'd think you'd hated it. TTTT

Mido-Ao


	9. Orange Juice and Teases

Yay the ninth drabble! Just one more until I reach a HIT point, for all of you who've no idea what the hell that is, I don't blame you, I just made it up on the spot but seriously a hit point is just a chapter or moment where it marks a historic moment. In this case with all those hits I'm getting My hit point is most likely approachable by the time I hit chapter ten. Or drabble ten…but I'm just boring you aren't I? Well, well, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA nor Orange juice (you'll understand why in a little bit though.)

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Katara glared as Aang sipped on his baggie of juice. "You've lost it, haven't you?" She asked him flatly. Their conversation had been completely jumping at random and it had gone from Water bending to Pie to Math to Romance. It's a very complex conversation that had been cut short in fear of lost hits. That and at certain times it wouldn't even make sense, but they just laughed it out. But what got them into this interesting piece of conversation started by a simple question.

"What about Zuko?"

"What_ about_ Zuko?"

"(Laughter) You like him don't you?"

But now that the main topic between them was romance…wow…sorry…kataang moment…please ignore that. Things got into pressurizing each other on telling who they liked. Katara had been teasing Aang about Toph and her reward was a bright blush. But obviously this little Airbender wanted some revenge of his own.

"I'm serious!" Aang laughed as he sucked on his bright plastic baggie. "I'll be damned if you said you didn't like him, I mean after those looks you've sent him when you think nobody's lookin-"

"Hey, you're a monk you can't curse!"

"So what? No one's around to do anything about it...might as well take advantage of it. Now stop changing the topic." Aang scolded playfully as Katara pouted at her foiled attempt. "And in any case, I seriously you've got nothing to hide."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Katara asked crossing her arms. Aang shrugged as he sucked a little more. Man that stuff was good. "It means that as much as you know about my cru-…well you know…" He paused, his cheeks returning to their former bright pink state. Katara smirked. "I know as much on how much you like Zu-"

"And even if I did like him what's the difference?" Katara asked as she looked away with a small frown. "He wouldn't feel the same, not after so much…" Aang felt his spirits fall a little to hear her despair. Aw, man, way to go Aang, real smooth. He thought quickly though and brightened up at his idea. "Actually you'd be surprised." He said jumping off from the large boulder where they sat, landing softly thanks to his air bending.

Katara rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…don't think he doesn't think the same about you." Aang said grinning before taking another sip from the baggie of orange juice. Katara sat there dumbstruck for the space of a moment. It wasn't long until she began to blush that she laid her chin on her arms, tightened her hold on her knees and looked away with the tiniest of frowns. "You're such a dork." She muttered.

"What? I give you good news and you reward me with name calling?" Aang placed a dramatic hand to his chest playing a hurtful expression, "I think I'm insulted." Katara sniffed at him. "Oh whatever, Zuko wouldn't care that way about me even if the spirits themselves had something to say about it."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure, I've seen some of the ways he's been looking at you when you nor anybody isn't looking…" Aang smirked. "Or so he thinks." Katara glared at him again.

"But anyway, you should tell him." If Katara had been drinking something she would've choked. "W-what!" She sputtered as she regained her balance from falling off the big rock. "Oh you can't be serious! I don't…lo-…lo…erm…LIKE him like that!"

"Yea you do." Aang said with a rather smug look. "Otherwise you wouldn't have sputtered like you did right there."

"I was only flustered on even…thinking about it!" She said finding no other better excuse. Aang saw through it easily, man he should do this more often, and hey you never know he could actually help save the world even more, one bender at a time. "Riight…and that blush is just a sun burn right?"

"Well, yes! I mean, no, I don't-ARGH!" Katara grabbed her hair and resisted the urge to yank…barely. "I don't love him that way Aang. Period."

"So the fact that He may _love_ you back doesn't catch your attention?" He fought back a laugh as he saw her brighten up for the space of a second and saw hope flicker in her eyes. This was real fun. He _should_ do this more often. The expression and emotion disappeared in a flash, however when she suddenly glared at him, Aang knew she must've seen his amused expression. He gave her a sheepish smile whilst he sucked on more orange juice.

"I hope you choke on orange pulp." She said with a grumble. Aang frowned suddenly and looked at the baggie before pointing to it. "But…it doesn't have any pulp…"

"Exactly, that's how badly I want you to choke on it."

"…You are very cruel, you know that?"

"Hey, don't wave your finger at me, Sokka does that I don't need you to do it too!"

"I can see why he does it, too. It's kinda fun!"

"Aang!"

"What I'm just kidding!"

"I know."

…

…

…

"So when are you gonna tell Zuko you love him? …ACK!"

"The day you confess your undying love for Toph, and then some!" Katara snarled as she stormed away leaving an unconscious/dazed/pained Avatar boy cradling his abused and smacked head.

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(laughs) Well this was just a small Idea I had plus a few inside jokes added in there that my brothers and I share. Plus I got sick of Aang always being the innocent/jealous/annoying side char they make him in most drabble series. So I planned a more…mischievous appearance for him, although that might've been clear in the Matchmaking in Disguise parts 1&2 of my drabble series. Well enough rambling, please REVIEW!

Mido-Ao


	10. We're Different

Wow drabble ten already! Now, this little drabble I dedicate to F22 Raptor who has enjoyed and supported me and encouraged me in every way possible. That and his story is drop dead amazing. So as well as dedicating this drabble I'm going to advertise for him too:)

Everyone if you want a serious amazing well written…no scratch that, best story of the year…no of the century for Zutara go, by all means, go read his story, Powerful Benders.

Greatest story, ALIVE.

Now…enough advertisement and more drabble!

Disclaimer: I dun own neither Avatar nor the juicy plots that it sprouts henceforth. Wow, I just switched from bumpkin accent to Old Testament speech. Ain't that a funny moment?

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They were enemies.

It was simple and obvious to any who would take notice of them. They were different as day is to night, and they were the same as tempers came to mind. So many qualities within them separated and united them both so intensely. When it came to consideration, they were truly opposites and yet they were truly the same.

She found him, while looking for water.

He had an arrow pierced through his stomach, two knives on his back and burns that bled him, half dead from blood loss.

Passion, she wanted to heal him, he wanted her to leave him "Zuko, let me help."

"I don't need your help, peasant."

Stubborn, she tried to help him, he told her to back off, "Drink the water, Zuko."

"Get the hell away from me, girl."

-

Anger, she yelled to him for being so stupid, he snarled at her for not understanding. "You're a fool, you don't wish to die do you!"

"I should have died long ago, let me die now that I can."

"Forget it, I won't let you die."

"You don't get it do you!"

"If it's the whole 'honor' speech, save it, your life is more important than your honor."

"I have lost more than that! I've lost my life, my throne, my family, my home…but what would you care, you've lost nothing."

"…I've lost more than you know…"

-

Sympathy, she held his hand as she edged the arrow out, nothing but growls and hisses were heard from him. Care, she kept him a secret from the others. "Where's the Avatar?" He asked as she placed a water consumed hand on the last of his injuries. "…He's not coming."

"…Does he know you're here?"

"…no."

-

Two days and the wounds were healed, but his body was still sick from so much. She snuck blankets and a few cloths.

"You fool," He gasped out as he felt his insides burn. "We're…enemies."

"No…we're different." She wrapped the blankets around him and placed a wet cloth on his burning forehead.

-

Four days

"Why do you help me?" He asked her softly, his fever had not gone down. "My nation…hurt your people." She placed the cool cloth again on his head. "But…not you." He looked at her in surprise, her smile was gentle.

Sixth day

He got restless when she was gone, and got impatient when she came little ways late. "Sorry, I'm late."

"Whatever."

-

Twelfth day and his stomach fluttered when he would feel her press a cool hand to his face. "You've gotten better…but you still have a slight fever." She said as she placed another cool towel on his head, Zuko's cheeks burned slightly brighter. "Oh…" He knew it was not fever.

-

Fourteenth day

"How're you feeling?" She asked him, helping him up. He sat with a small hiss, "like shit." She smiled and giggled softly. He smiled at her, her heart skipped a beat.

-

Eighteenth day

"You're late." He grumbled. She grinned, "I brought you some of my rice balls."

"You're forgiven." She knew he loved her cooking, and she loved it when he denied it.

-

Twentieth day

"Aang is getting better at Earthbending." She said opening his boxed lunch.

"Good for him." he said flatly.

"He'll soon need a Firebending teacher." She said inquiringly.

"No." he said taking a bite of his food.

"But Zuko-" she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I said no." she sighed frustrated.

-

Twenty-fourth Day

"You're a jerk!" She shot at him. He glared at her before shooting his own comeback.

"And you're a brat!"

"You act brattier than me, idiot!" She huffed.

"Wench!"

"Cross-eyed loser!"  
"Water witch!"

"Carbon breath!"

"Simpleton!"

"I am not!"

"Prove it!"

"Fine, if I'm so simple minded you can take care of yourself BY yourself!"

"Good riddance!"

"I'm glad you're happy!"

"I'm glad you're glad!'

"Fine!"

"Fine!" she stomped off with an aura of frustration. He shot a fireball at a tree.

Moments later she returned angrier than before. "Come back to apologize?"

"Go swallow a knife, would you Zuko?"

-

Twenty-seventh Day

"I'm sorry." She whispered. He looked away, and felt her hand grasp his own. "I lost my mom too." He looked at her in surprise. She had a sad smile and she gave him a gentle squeeze. "Hmm…you're fever's back."

-

Thirty-first Day

She helped him to a river; his clothes were dirty from disease and blood. "Stop being so picky, and let me help you-!"

"Forget it, I'm not getting undressed!"

"But you can't stay in these clothes!" She said pulling on his shirt, his face a bright pink, as he yanked back.

"The hell I can't!" he snapped.

"At least let me help you bathe!"

"I can bathe by myself!"

"You're still wounded!" She tried to reason as she pointed to some of the deeper cuts that were too stubborn to heal completely. "That's never stopped me before!" she groaned in annoyance.

"You are so insufferable-a..." she had began to pull until her hands slid from the cloth and she started falling back on the river bank. "Aah…" He let out as he tried to grab her hands, but ended up falling with her. "AHH!" they let out as a big splash followed them. The river was shallow and had a poor current, she landed sitting on her elbows soaking wet. An equally soaking wet man lay on top of her, his chin rested on her chest. Their eyes were wide and dazed. "Get. Off." She said her face a bright red.

"Can't."

"Why?"

"If I move you'll slip." He motioned to her left arm; it was shaking from holding so much weight. "So what if I slip?" she asked irritated, his cheeks turned a soft pink.

"I don't want to be in an even bigger awkward position." He muttered quietly. Katara raised an eyebrow, "oh just get off already, you're heavy!" She shook him and indeed her arm collapsed. The slippery mud within the water failed to help her pick herself up again. Another splash, "I warned you." He said blinking the water from his eyes. Their noses a centimeter away, her face burned bright.

"Now can you get off!"

-

Thirty-fifth Day

There were times that he would say things…he shouldn't have said…She slapped him. Zuko's eyes were glued to the ground, his head turned from the force of the blow. "How dare you." She hissed blinking back tears. "How dare you imply I would do that." Zuko glanced at her, "You've done it already, haven't you though?" Katara sobbed as she leaned her head on his chest, "I would never hurt Aang…" He leaned his head on hers. "I never meant to lead him on like that…"

-

A month and a half and he could finally stand and walk without help. He smiled at her when he saw her gasp; she had just arrived and was shocked to see him leaning on the tree where she had found him. She wrapped her arms around his neck in joy. His face flushed and he felt his heart rate climb, "I'm so glad for you, Zuko." She whispered in his ear, giving him a final squeeze. She began to let go but felt his arms wrap around her waist gently. She pulled away slightly, but not from his embrace. She looked up to him to see him smiling at her warmly, gently. The look in his eye made her heart pound in her chest, her cheeks heated up as she realized he was leaning in.

She leaned in as well, her eyes fluttered close. He pressed his lips gently on hers, and she pressed hers against his, her world was sent spinning and her legs felt as though they were replaced with jelly. The pulled apart and looked into each others eyes, a need for each other's taste pounded within them and they rammed their lips together into a more passionate kiss. He pressed her tighter against himself and he felt her arms tighten around his neck, she moaned softly into the kiss and felt him pull away, the kiss left her sleepy-eyed.

"Thank you." He whispered to her lips in a moment of air.

-

Fortieth Day

"Zuko!" Her older brother and her best friend cried out as he appeared behind her. "Katara, behind you!" She smiled at them. "It's ok guys…"

"What?" they asked, her best friend's teacher (and crush) looked up curiously from her position on Appa. "He's with us now."

"Oh, god he's brainwashed you!" Her brother exclaimed. She laughed, "No, Sokka…really…he's with us now…and he's going to teach Aang Firebending." She announced. The young monk stared wide eyed at the prince. "Is he really?" His teacher asked walking up.

"Yeah," She looked back at him, he had been glaring at them pretty annoyed. She smiled to him, grabbing his hand and intertwining her fingers with his. "He's with me now…" he smiled back.

XXXXXX

Ok…I hope this didn't come out too soapy…I was going in for the soft approach with them, and yet as angsty as any other of my drabbles…I think…well anyway…hopefully this was to your liking! Review! And let me know if you like! Oh who am I kidding, I write soaps like a Lucy! XDDD

Mido-Ao


	11. Spellbound

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar…though if I did I'd be getting myself security protection from rabid fans…you know I never realized saying 'I don't own Avatar' could ever be so relieving.

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There's a difference between would not…and could not.

Despite all his efforts, he _could not_ tear his eyes away. He saw the girl, and simply could not remove his eyes off of her. If he would he would've done so long ago...but it was obvious...He could not remove his eyes _off_ of her.

He wanted to, oh Agni, He just wanted to turn around and pretend he had not recognized her. But her eyes…gods she looked like a goddess right now. All this time he had only seen her in blue peasant clothes and that weird braid, and of course the necklace he had the pleasure of taunting her with several months ago.

Back then he didn't want anything to do with her. Even when he saw her again when they went against his sister (Although he was rather impressed on how she changed…he'd never admit it though.) He wasn't interested.

'She's a peasant.' He had told himself over and over again. But now she looked and seemed to be of royal blood, or something of nobility. 'A peasant, a peasant, a stupid water brat and a peasant,' he told himself over and over…and yet his eyes refused to unglue themselves from this sudden display of beauty.

'No!' He growled mentally, 'She's ugly, horrifyingly ugly, you've never even thought of her like this. She is not beautiful, gods even Mai has more beauty than her!' then again he had never really noticed Mai had he?

He noticed her suddenly let out a laugh, and felt himself grow deeply captivated by anything and everything about her. Logic was seemingly loosing itself in his mind as he felt himself craving to touch her. Like a prospector too far away from visible gold.

He suddenly found himself moving closer, trying to get a better view of the girl who he had grown to despise these months, and suddenly become intrigued in a second.

"Lee!" He snapped out of her spell, out of his trance and all feelings of intrigue and captivation were lost in the sea of his mind. He looked at his Uncle who jogged towards him carrying a lantern and several snacks. "Come look at this magnificent Paper lantern, I'm sure this would look rather handsome on the Tea House's antique display, come let's get more to give it a more amazing look!"

Zuko had never felt so appreciative and annoyed in all his life. Half of him was relieved to no end that he had snapped out of that stupefied trance, and half of him was annoyed that he had suddenly lost sight of her. He merely nodded and followed his uncle towards where they were selling those lanterns and where his date was waiting for him.

She's only a peasant, He thought, just some peasant…nothing to get excited about.

But then again wasn't he one right now too?

XXXX

It would be rather funny to see Zuko suddenly see Katara in her get up and get all dopey…I would actually kill to see that. But alas we yet not know and it was just a bit of fandom frenzy occurring inside me. But of course I'm seeing that a lot now that they finally put up the new episodes. :sigh: well for those of you that are not looking forward to spoilers…even though these were minor, I hope you stayed clear of this drabble and heeded my warning up there. I'll be posting up more no since I have just gotten in the school rhythm so I've finally made time. Once again Read and Review!

Mido Ao

Oh and if anyone would like to suggest a drabble Idea by all means lay it on me. And if some have a challenge that message goes to you to…oh and you will get that drabble dedicated to you if you wish when I choose yours. So send them in send them in and REVIEW!


	12. Seeing Blue

Disclaimer: No own Avatar. Capiche?

Spoilers for those that haven't seen…so please yea…if you no want spoilers I suggest you steer clear.

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She looked so damn familiar.

Zuko really didn't like where she had popped out from. The girl had only been coming frequently to their shop and it irked him to the brink of insanity. Was she spying on them? Was she on to their secrets? Did that pretty boy with the hook swords convince her to spy on them? Or was she on to them from the start?

"My name is Jin." Zuko felt a shiver run down his spine, why did her voice remind him of something so infuriating? He turned around, and felt another shiver…those braids…why do they seem so familiar?

"I'm Lee." He introduced himself, common courtesy you see. She asked him out, which was way beyond awkward as he'd never had anyone ask him out. "He'd love to." His uncle popped out from behind and nudged him forward; a needle of annoyance was pricking him harshly in the back already. Zuko sent his uncle a glare indicating the obvious.

"Great I'll see you tonight!" He looked up and opened his mouth ready to protest. But his uncle nudged him again and she had already left, he groaned inwardly.

Dammit, now he has to deal with something that he shouldn't even have been involved.

Already in some clothes and he was about to leave, "Wait a minute." He stopped and looked back. His Uncle was looking at him with a raised brow, "You honestly don't think like going like that are you?" Zuko shrugged, "What's it matter, I won't be gone long."

Iroh sighed, Zuko hated it when he sighed, it always meant he had no choice but do what he said. Usually he wouldn't have cared but now…it wasn't the best time to ignore his uncle's 'wise' words of advice.

"Not like that you aren't," Zuko instantly felt his brow twitch and his mouth slip into a scowl. "Come here, you've got the clothes right but let's see if we can do something about your hair."

"Uncle, I'm fine, I can handle it." Zuko said reassuringly, trying real hard not to show the trembling in his voice. Irritation was something that was often showed with his voice…in a way his voice was his biggest enemy.

"I'm sure you can," He said with a nod and a wave of the hand. "But this is no battle, Lee. This is a young lady, and you need to show her you can be a clean young man, trust me young girls like her enjoy those things." Iroh mentioned as he grabbed his nephew's arm and pulled him back upstairs, Zuko protesting all along the way but only to fall on deaf ears.

Ten minutes and he was ready and looking all the while dorky. (But rather hot, although He won't ever realize it…_sigh_…) He stepped outside and looked around, one minute she's not around, and Zuko almost sighed in relief, he hoped she had forgotten so he could just go back to his room and rest. The next she right in his face, He felt his insides jump in surprise. He really hated her for that now.

And…what in the heck happened to her hair? Where are those godforsaken braids? Wait, why'd he bother caring?

She ruffled his hair as though they were buddies, Zuko didn't appreciate the familiarity but didn't bother to stop her, he was just glad his hair was back to the way it was suppose to be. Without the sticky substance Iroh splattered all over his scalp.

They ended up eating at some place Zuko really didn't pay much attention to. She was asking questions, and was really getting into his business. What made things better, he wasn't a very good liar. He hadn't lied for a while since he broke his ties to the fire nation so he hadn't time to practice…but that's beside the point. He just wanted her to stop asking, he might end up saying something that might ruin them, so he kept his replies curt and simple.

"Why did you travel so much?" Oh gods can't she just contain herself and stop asking so much? Had she no respect? Zuko quickly disregarded that bitter thought, although not regretting it, and without thinking said he was in a circus.

"Let me guess…juggling," Why is she talking so much? Is this what girls really act like? Do they really act like chattering hog monkeys? He'll never understand women, "Uh…yea…" The hell? Why did he just agree? He didn't even know how to catch small objects without it being reflex…much less juggling.

She handed him objects to juggle, and like an idiot he accepted and proceeded to make a fool of himself. Why was this happening?

After a while they were just walking…nothing unusual just a walk. Suddenly she grabbed his hand and yanked as she ran, confused as to why she had randomly decided to run he followed dumbly, he looked at her and as he saw her back what he saw made his eyes widen to an extreme extent.

A dark braid trailing behind, hair loops held with a clip, blue clothes and darker skin…Zuko felt his breath hitch in his throat suddenly and he blinked rapidly. He looked back up and saw Green and hair tied at the back of her head, she was telling him something but he didn't bother listen, he was trying to figure out why he saw that. Was he going insane? 'All that tea must be going to my head,' Zuko thought, convinced at his own logic.

Speaking of which he suddenly remembered something from the tea shop. Those braids…so that's what they reminded him of. "_Zuko, I can Help."_ He heard resonate in his head, "…It's my favorite place!" in an instant what he had figured out was wiped clean from his mind, He broke from his train of thoughts and tried to focus.

He looked up and let out a stupid, "Huh?" Smooth, man.

"Oh no…" He looked around and saw a fountain in front with lanterns surrounding it. "They're not turned on." She let out glumly; He looked at Jin and felt bad suddenly for acting so rude to her. He…he needed to make up for that.

"Close your eyes." He told her, She Looked up perplexed. Eventually she did and placed her palms on her eyes. "And don't peek." It was a stupid Idea. Stupid. He knew he was risking his identity and his safety by being reckless but…he owed her.

The result was indeed more amazing than he had first thought, and Jin was rather delighted that the lanterns turned on, he avoided the questions she had shot him and instead decided to take in the sight.

Something warm and strange slipped into his hand and Zuko looked down quickly, and alarmed, to see what had made his way in his palm. The result of doing that made his quickly uncomfortable but, his eye caught blue one more time and he looked up.

Green. He blinked again and began to ponder why he kept having these strange visions…things…whatever they were. She was getting closer to him and in a state of panic he took out a coupon,

"Here," He offered, stating that his uncle would want her to have. She accepted it and he felt that they had finished for the day, A warm hand gently touched the side of his face and he looked at the girl before him.

Blue eyes.

His own eyes widened. She looked down sheepishly as she began to tell him something, he looked to the ground in self shock, what's with all this blue? When she finally looked into his eyes they were that normal shade of hazel.

"…_I can help…"_ That voice...what was it? It would be a voice he could remember…but not entirely pin point, all he knew was that it was really made him feel strange. "…I want to give you something," Jin finished saying. He merely nodded as she had told him to close his eyes.

He was curious, as to why but figured it would be something like a special thank you for the day and maybe pay back for making her close her own eyes.

Something soft suddenly pressed itself on his lips, it was a nice and yet unwelcome feeling, he tried to completely understand by pressing in meekly, but then his mind flashed the picture of Blue eyes filled with a determined flame, a smirk, and clear crystal water.

"_Zuko…"_ He pulled away almost instantly, something told him what he had done was wrong. Oh so very wrong. He shouldn't have done that. He…should've never done something like that.

He looked in Jin's eyes and saw hurt, confusion, and hope all mixed into one. And though he would always remember her as the girl that stole his first kiss…he would always think of the one thing that made him pull away. If he could figure it out who it actually was that made him pull away.

He slammed the doors behind him, Jin had said her farewell and he had retired to where they were now closing. He had almost ignored his Uncle Iroh's question as the only thing he could think of is how to get rid of the mixture of feelings bubbling in his stomach.

He paused behind the door and slowly slid it open. "It was nice." He stated before shutting it close. His heart was beginning to beat at a fast pace…as his mind drifted to the color that haunted him all evening.

Blue.

XXXXXX

I thought this was rather well, since well it gave it that touch of subtlety and at the same time some fluffiness, and as much as I hated Jin for being so damn bold and kissing him like that…I'm glad. Because…in a way it gives us, Zutarians, more reason to hope. Because every one knows relationships don't spring out like that. I'm happy for this episode. And especially the part when Toph and Katara spent sometime together as girls, and it also shows us another part of Toph we never really thought we'd experience so soon, even for a filler it was a good ep.

Well…leave you messages and comments and reviews and whatever we have to do to get this story going…oh and I might continue this but on Katara's POV instead, and although it's no drabble, thanks a lot whoever had pointed it out, it's something I feel glad I did.

Still…stupid Jin, stealing his first kiss like that…Oo, that just irritates me so much! X Well…hopefully we'll see more Zutara in the future. Oh and thanks so much for the support guys!

Till Later!

Mido-Aoi


	13. Shock

Ok, I was just re-reading my drabbles and couldn't help but realize I haven't done much angst stuff in a while…so-o-o…here's a little taste on an actual story I plan on writing. Now…I'm having trouble with a name so whoever out there sees the whole plot behind this mini part please let me know what names pop up in your lovely minds! And that's me being a kiss-ass. Heh. oh yea...this bit is not for the easily aroused. You have been warned.

So I present to you all drabble thirteen…sort of…

Disclaimer: Ix-nay on the nage-ownay…whatever the hell that means…I'll make it simple I dun OWN! XD

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They stared at each other in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here?" They wanted to say but time seemed fitting on sticking their breaths to their throats.

They had already entered the palace, and she was searching for any signs of Aang and Sokka, worry and fear pulsing in her veins that she wouldn't be there when he fought the fire lord. Katara was really in no mood to deal with someone like _him_, especially after she had almost been gutted with some random dart.

Zuko had been chasing after his sister, whom he'd practically beat in a fight if not for the acrobat, Ty Lee, and the dark Mai. They had run off long ago and it took a while for Zuko to regain the feeling in his arms and legs enough for him to give chase.

He had made a turn on one of the corridors when he bumped into a force of equal speed, he was sent flying backwards and landed roughly on his back. He let out a surprised yelp and heard a tiny cry of pain and equal surprise. The hit made him see blotches and spots, and he had to shake his head to blur it out. What he saw when he looked up almost made his jaw drop.

Katara had begun to run after she started to hear rumbles and feel small quakes in the near distance, she knew those quakes to be that of Aang's and she figured he must've caught up to the Fire Lord already. Not wanting to be left behind in all the action and not be there if he got hurt she sped up. Right when she was going to make a turn, she crashed into something firm and warm that threw her back several feet, she cried out when she bit her tongue.

The pain made her eyes shut close and trying to will it away she curled and uncurled her injured tongue. She soon tasted something foul and realized it was probably blood.

She opened her eyes with a grimace, but widened them when she saw what lay on its back not too far from her.

And this is where it brings us now, where they stay looking at each other in shock for the space of two minutes.

Finally the pain in her mouth faded and the ache on his back subsided enough for them to break out of their shock. Their brows furrowed and their eyes narrowed into sharp glares. Finally Katara spoke while beginning to stand, not willing to spend any more time lying there looking like a fool. "What are you doing here," Zuko felt a muscle in his jaw twitch, "hoping to help your father out?" She spat, unlike herself.

He glared at her hard enough to make her feel a pang of intimidation but it left when she reminded herself of her status. "My _father_ needs no help nor will he ever receive it." He growled, picking himself up faster than her.

"And what about you," He asked with a hint of distaste. "Running away again?" She flared at the comment and inched a hand to her water pouch, he grasped the handle of his swords. "For your information," she hissed her voice showing a more flavor of venom than the mere taste she allowed him. "I am looking for Aang, hoping to help him where you didn't."

He stared with new found hatred and spite, she returned the hard gaze with her own fire and they clashed with their will.

"Surprising," He spoke calmly, his tensed muscles spoke otherwise…not like Katara was _looking_ or anything. "You said the exact same thing right before you ran away with that pretty boy." Something like shock and realization struck her as her eyes widened; she glared at him before squeezing the lid of the pouch somehow not able to bring her to open it.

"Jealous?" She asked with a trembling voice trying to sound cocky but pain was making her eyes fog with tears.

His eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth visibly, "Why would I be, the crazed lunatic is meant for you, Katara. I always did think crazy and weak did go together."

The temperature dropped several degrees to the point where their breaths became visible in hard and wide puffs. Her eyes hardened with pain and malice at the fire prince before her.

"Why didn't you stop me if I'm so weak?" She muttered at him with spiteful words, a blast of warmth struck her in the face and she witnessed his aura burn around him, it was almost fire-like. His eyes were icy and steely meant to freeze her as much as burn her, Katara had never seen so much pain reflected at her in her life.

"Betrayal is something I'm used to," He said stepping forward, the thought of chasing after his sister originally had been wiped fresh from his mind. "Expecting it from you isn't any different." Katara bared her teeth, trying with all her strength not to let those wretched tears fall. All the thoughts of reaching Aang to help had been replaced with the thoughts on beating Zuko, on besting him in his own game.

"What you did to Aang was betrayal-" She began when he cut her off with a snarl, "What you did to ALL of us was betrayal!" She finally managed to snap the lid off and suck out the water with a jerk of the wrist. "Don't you dare speak of him as though you were with him from the _beginning_!" She cried, throwing a blast of water at him, it evaporated on touch. "I wasn't the one bent on killing him when I met him!" She continued throwing several blasts before going with ice shards; Zuko ducked many of them and rushed her with unexpected speed.

He grabbed her right wrist, twisted it and pushed her against the wall. She growled when he pressed his body on hers, their lips only a centimeter away. "It's that very fact that you left him broken and thrown." He whispered at her, she lifted her left hand and slapped him.

He looked back at her and glared, "What do you know about being broken down?" She hissed at him with the same malice, panting and sweating on the heat he was currently throwing off at her.

"I hated each and every moment I was with Jet, and it comes to show you know nothing," She murmured with disdain, Zuko's breathing began to quicken, "he threatened to have you killed…that's why I left, so don't you dare assume-" He slammed his lips on her own, cutting her off and making her gasp inwardly, he didn't hesitate using this as a sign of entrance, making the kiss violent and fast.

She wrapped her left arm around his neck, kissing back with as much zeal and violence. The two kept it up, each trying to dominate the others mouth breathing hard through their noses.

Zuko noticed the taste of blood in her mouth but didn't allow it to stop him as their tongues wrestled. He finally let go of her right arm and began to roam her back while the other pressed her waist tight against his. Katara used her right hand to further deepen the kiss, and she moaned when his right hand trailed from her waist to her hip and to her thigh.

They slowed down and eventually pulled away after their noses couldn't offer enough oxygen, they looked at the other with eyes narrowed. "This doesn't change anything." Katara said when her breath evened out.

"Shut up." He growled before inhaling and slammed his mouth over hers once more.

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Eh…I feel like I let in too much info…but that's only ONE of the many kisses they'll share, and I assure you the first will leave you craving for more like these. (smirk) well review and let me know what you think.

This wasn't for the easily aroused so for those of you that are suddenly in that position…sorry. Well let me know…hated it? Loved it? Think it's not a good idea? Did I expose too much? It's all in a review.

Later

Mido-Aoi

P.S

Once again thanks to F22 Raptor, Kayko15, and Quill and Saber (your information concerning drabbles really helped. :) thanks again) you guys really bring out the best in me as well and TeenAnimeOtaku, and many I can't remember right now! You guys are awesome!


	14. Dancing

Disclaimer: ALL HAIL AVATAR!! Wait…no that's wrong…OH YEAAA…I don't own avatar. Lol sorry. XD

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"You two," Iroh spoke to the two brooding teens. "In order to work together as you should regardless of your difference need to understand the true meaning of teamwork." Zuko shot Katara a glare; she shot him a look of disdain.

"Forget it." The two said in unison, looking away in annoyance. Iroh sighed and looked to the side. Aang merely shrugged. Sokka looked rather smug and Toph was picking on a leaf.

Iroh sighed once more. "Alright, I have dealt with it as long as I could but it is obviously in much more need of attention than I would've thought." Katara and Zuko looked at the old man with curious yet flat looks.

"It seems that the only way you two can finally understand each other, is…" He paused for extra measure, casually sneaking glances at the two teenagers. "To dance."

Zuko stumbled and Katara choked, Sokka's eyes widened and Aang looked surprised, Toph raised an eyebrow. "WHAT?!" all of them, with the exception of Toph, had cried out. That was definitely something rather unexpected.

"It seems to be the only way."

"Oh come on uncle," Zuko groaned. "Please, you and I both know she won't be able to dance."

"_Excuse_ me?!" Katara cried out in indignation. "I do not worry about that very fact, but you Zuko are going to take it upon yourself to teach her all about ballroom dancing."

Suddenly Sokka snorted in laughter. "Wait; hold up, Zuko…as in crazy obsessive Zuko, _ballroom_ dances?" Zuko glared at the water tribe teen with malice. "Why of course, every member of the court, including the royals, must learn how to dance." Iroh said proudly, completely missing the whole point of Sokka's amusement.

"It is said that only a true leader is capable of dancing fluidly and strategically. Only the toughest of warriors were able to dance these dances, it helped agility, strength and swiftness in battle." Iroh said pointing things out like it didn't matter. Sokka was still laughing though.

"Wait, but what's that going to do?" Toph asked indifferently. "Is it even going to help at all?" Iroh smiled at the young girl, "Actually it will, you see if they learn how to dance they will be able to gain more trust towards the other and have the ability to work together as a team, and not over power the other." Zuko frowned and Katara scoffed.

"Regardless of all that, I am so not dancing with him." Katara said raising a hand and turning to walk away. "I told you she couldn't dance." Zuko muttered audibly to Katara. She stiffened and turned around; a look of fury was placed very suddenly on her features. "Who said I can't dance?!"

"Fine…you're just a coward." Zuko said crossing his arms, smug. Katara stomped towards him and neared him in his face. "We'll see who the coward is after all this, _Zuko_."

"Excellent!" Iroh spoke out delighted. "It's settled!"

"Nothing is settled!!" The two cried out at the old man. "Look already you are working together, wonderful!" Iroh sounded utterly happy.

"Uncle!"

-.-'-.-'-.-

Well that was just a taste of a story I'm currently thinking of writing. A small sample of it all, but it won't necessarily be written like that, actually that was just an idea of introducing the plot and I'm hoping it'll come out right. Ha ha…so anyway please review. It may not have been the best and probably too short to deal with but…eh a chap is a chap.

Well review!

Mido-Ao


	15. Sleepy prt 1

A/N: Yea I noticed I was being a major turd when not writing a new chap but…I don't know guess I just lost interest for a while.

BUT NEVER FEAR!!

I am here, and with a new fic in mind!

So I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own not of Avatar…but Avatar sure owns me:3

XXXXXXXXXXX

Katara sighed contently; Zuko merely rubbed his cheek against the top of her head affectionately.

This would've been a rather nice moment if they had been embracing the other intentionally.

Sleep was such a nice thing; it separated hatred and anger and replaced it with bliss and gentleness. She rubbed her head on the crook of his neck while her brought her body closer to his.

Sleep reduces stress and does wonders to the body.

Clutching some of his shirt in her hand she refused to let go and merely pushed it upwards while wrapping herself to him she shivered very slightly against the cool air of the night.

With an arm holding her upper body and a hand on the curve of her waist he breathed deeply the scent of her messy undone hair, he rubbed circles on her waist when she shivered, lifting her night shirt slightly higher up upon doing so.

Her left leg was draped over his, the blanket was messily moved to the bottom of their feet. Zuko's hair was all over the place and covered his right eye slightly when they shifted more against the other.

Yes, sleep was such a nice thing.

Waking up however…won't be quite so lovely.

XXXXX

Ah yet another short story, this one will be separated into three separate parts. And I must say I'm finding it fun to do.

Reviews are appreciated!

Mido-Ao


	16. Sleepy, Sleepy prt 2

Sleepy, Sleepy

II

XXX

Aang stared at them with limp arms at his sides. His face was pulled into a incredulous grin, his eyes were half closed and it looked like he had just woken up.

Zuko mumbled something incoherent and Katara gave another content sigh.

The sun was rising and already Zuko was beginning to stir. Toph soon joined him and though she was blind she could pretty much 'see' what her pupil could.

"We won't tell Sokka…" She muttered to him. He nodded dumbly, "Right."

XXX

Ooh, I can only wonder if he did. LOL next up part three!

Reviews are appreciated!

Mido-Ao


	17. Sleepy, Sleepy prt 3

Sleepy, Sleepy

III

XXXX

Rays of light filled his body with energy and made Zuko flutter his eyes open instinctively. He looked around drowsily before trying to get up. He frowned, was he sick?

His body felt heavy and his left arm was asleep. There was a nice scent beneath him and he thought he was delirious. His upper body was comfortably warm and his left leg had something heavy pressed upon it but the rest of his lower body was rather cool and light.

He looked down to check his legs and his eyes widened to see that the cause was not illness.

His face flushed red and he froze when he saw the familiar water bender stir over him.

XXXX

She was rather warm and comfortably and Katara swore this was the best sleep she had ever gotten in a long while. It was only until her bed was moving that her excellent sleep was disrupted and suddenly awakened. She frowned, her eyes still closed, still wanting to sleep.

Her bed seemed to freeze or something and Katara realized the problem wasn't her bed. _Toph_ she thought convinced. Of all times to be bugging her…Katara finally let her eyes flutter open in disdain, ready to tell the earth bender off and return to sleep knowing full well it wouldn't be as perfect as it had been.

But her eyes didn't give her the image she was prepared for. She didn't see Toph's grinning face nor did she see herself on her comfortable sleeping bag. Her frown deepened and for a moment she thought she was still dreaming. She rose a hand to rub her eyes and realized that whatever was radiating warmth wasn't an object.

Cautiously she moved her hand over the surface of where she was resting on, this felt strangely familiar. She shifted to where she could see her surroundings better and looked down. She froze and her eyes widened.

Brown pants and a maroon shirt…lean and muscular arms and chest…golden eyes widened enough to match her own.

Her mouth dropped in shock.

XXXX

Zuko had felt her run a hand over his chest and felt a shiver run down his back. His heart was beginning to race and he barely breathed. She sat up and looked around, her head turned and suddenly their noses touched and their lips were barely grazing each other. She froze. He froze and they stayed there for what seemed an hour.

He could catch her face glow and her eyes look at themselves through his own, his heart was racing so fast he thought it'd jump out from his chest at any given moment.

XXXX

She was just staring into those golden orbs, the scar over his left eyes, his shuddering breath over her lips, her throbbing heart in her chest, the blood pumping into her ears. This was not a dream.

A few seconds passed and she realized then at the worst time that her right arm wouldn't be able to sustain her weight for much longer. She was still frozen in shock her mind was still on the one track of being in this position with…Zuko. No other thought ran through her mind at the moment…well that is until her arm gave out.

She gasped when gravity took hold of her bringing her lips to crash down over his in less than a millisecond.

His arms gave out when she stumbled over him and the two landed back over the futon.

His eyes closed when he braced for impact and for a moment thought he was free when their lips separated. Instinctively he had thrown his right arm in the air to try and grasp something to catch and break their fall.

His left arm had wrapped itself tighter around her waist.

His hand caught nothing, his back crashed against the soft of the futon and his breath was thrown off when she landed over him.

Their lips were still locked and after the fall the two broke away and pushed away from the other. Katara placed her hand over her mouth her face a bright red that equaled his own.

"You…" She gasped after two seconds; anger suddenly seemed to take over her. "What in the hell were you doing?!"

"Wha-?" Zuko said startled, he snapped out of his stupor before regarding her angrily. "You were in MY bed!"

"What? No I wasn't, you were in mine!"

"Yours is over there!" He growled pointing to her futon that rested by the camp. Katara's eyes followed to where he was pointing and flushed to realize he was right.

"That still doesn't change anything, Pervert!"

"I didn't do anything, Brat!"

"Yes you did, jerk!"

"Wench!"

"Pompous oaf!"

"Cow!"

Katara growled before lunging at him. He caught her and the two were brought down and soon began to wrestle the other. She pushed him over before jabbing a knee in his gut, he grunted. "That's for taking my first kiss you pervert!"

He pushed her off and continued to pin her arms to her sides and her body to the ground. "You fell on me and you were in my bed, if anyone's the pervert it's you!"

"Whoa, Guys, GUYS!!" They heard Aang call out to them but both ignored them as they continued to wrestle.

Sokka woke up with a start and watched Aang try to calm down and split up the two benders. Toph sighed next to him. "What now?" He groaned.

"Just another lover spat, go back to sleep, Snoozles."

XXXXXXXX

And that's that! LOL I thought that was cute and satisfying, nothing like a morning kiss and a good wrestling match. Iroh would be proud! XDD


	18. Pears, Encouragement and Innuendos

Holy crap! How long has it been since I've written anything for you guys?! I feel horrible…just horrible for neglecting you. But fear not, I have not left this as I have my previous stories. In fact I just came to let you all know of my plan for these series.

I plan to make at MOST 200 of them. By then hopefully my inspiration won't have run out and I'm left an empty shell. We wouldn't want that would we?

I feel like dedicating right now.

So this like one-shot I dedicate to Kayko15. You've been reviewing from the start and your hilarious dialogues with Zuko always make my day. So, here's to you!

Disclaimer: I dun own Avatar. If I did I'd be making a rather crappy job and would leave it on a cliffhanger for months…I'm a procrastinator at heart. V.V

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The twelve-year-old blind earth bender smirked widely.

It was probably the most horrendous things to behold on Zuko's part when he caught it. Worriedly he shifted in his sulking position by the tree. "What?" He snapped, trying to hide his discomfort. It would've worked had she not been able to feel what he was going through.

"I saw that." She stated as she juggled a pear in between her palms. Zuko raised a brow, "Saw what?" he asked despite the actual paradox of the question.

"Don't act dumb, Zuzu, you know what I'm talking about." Her blank pale green eyes shifted quickly to the side, Zuko followed and fought futile battle against a blush. "In fact, I'm certain you do."

"Sorry, but I don't." He grunted slouching further and crossing his arms over his chest tightly, his face scrunched in an indignant glare.

"Whatever you say, But if it makes you feel any better," Toph continued as she 'looked' back at the others that were on the other side of camp, the three of them laughing as Iroh smart moved Momo from a peach. "Despite how emo you are, she likes you."

"Emo?" Zuko commented dryly. Toph gave him a toothy grin, "or angsty, take your pick. The point is sweetheart over there has the hots for you."

Zuko promptly ignored the fluttering in his chest. "Nice try but I doubt it."

"How come, if I were you I'd be doing cartwheels or fiery dragons…then again cartwheels are too random…even for you." Toph asked in a mouthful of pear, the juice dripped from her chin and spread around her hands.

"Because, what kind of a person even shows a sign of affection to the main source of all their pain? And even if she did, with this mark," He covered it with a hand subconsciously, "I'm hideous…no one would take my hand in this world." There was a pause as Toph took another bite, while watching him, and swallowed before sighing.

"Boy, you're full of angst. Listen, take my word for it, if I say she likes you and tries to hide it just as miserably as you do it's because it's true. Besides…I know Katara. She's the type to learn to forgive and accept," Toph looked back at the others.

Zuko followed her eyes and let his eyes fall on the water bender whom was talking with Aang and Sokka with a smile. "You may be a cause of her pain…but she's too strong to let you keep affecting her…and besides…this morning I heard her mumbling in her sleep," She added slyly, Zuko's eyes widened for a moment. "kept on muttering…something about honey and how amazing you were…"

Zuko instantly turned scarlet and looked away. "Shut up, Toph!" He growled. This earned him a snort of amusement from the girl.

She took a final bite of the fruit and threw the core at him, "Whatever you say, Princey. But seriously…if you want to fulfill her fantasies as well as your own," Zuko groaned and covered his face, Toph grinned. "You might want to be a man and get the groin to take the initiative."

With that said she stood and dusted herself off and began to walk toward the rest. She stopped and turned to face a mute Zuko. "Oh…and by the way…You're going to enjoy her wild imagination." She winked with a sly look.

Zuko ignited her pants.

XXXXXXXXX

Yay!! Finally a good one. I liked how this turned out, had to do a lot of changes but nevertheless…well no use just sitting there. REVIEW!! XDD

Mido-Ao


	19. 7 Deadly Sins: I : Pride

I'm back with a plan!!! YEA! Well ok let me get down to business. I've had an idea for a 7-shot series thing and it has to do with the seven deadly sins. So I warn you…they will be VERY EXCRUCIATINGLY short. Or not…it all depends on how it comes out. Ah well,

Disclaimer: I dun own Avatar. ………UHUHUHU AWAAAAHH:sob:

XXXXXX

He absolutely hated them.

He hated anyone who was below him…below his blood, below his people. He hated anyone whom thought the Fire Nation was scum. Because for all his life, from the diapers till he began to grow whiskers, he had been taught, mind fed, that the Fire Nation wasn't. _They _were.

He felt superior to them. Every time he would walk next to his mother and his sister down the richly paved streets, his pockets stuffed with gold, his body clothed in silk, his flesh perfumed with incense, he always felt a bubble fill him that kept his head high and his nose in the air.

That, back then, was known as patriotism.

Now, it was known as **Pride**.

And who knew the fates would make him feel every thing his vanity had caused others. Who knew he would fall so low, thrust from his title, ripped from his clothes and left stark naked to suffer the cold harsh rains that life had thrown at others before him.

It was when he had transformed…that he could see as plainly as day on how much he had caused.

His sister absolutely hated them.

He could only guess where that would take her.

XXXXXX

Yea, eye no. had nuzzin to dzu wvith Zutara...Well you know the drill, Review!!

Mido-Ao


	20. 7 Deadly Sins: II : Envy

If you guys don't know by know what my intentions are…well all you need to do is click the button BEFORE the chapter title. It'll get you somewhere. I promise.

Disclaimer: I dun own Avatar. ………Whatever happens I must not cry…they cannot make me _cry!_ :sob:

XXXXXX

He envied him.

He envied how no matter how much he had caused them he had somehow won the heart of the girl he had been pursuing since the start.

And though it wasn't in his nature to hate, he was a monk for goodness sake, but there was something that made him turn green at the sight of seeing Katara look at him with these eyes…these loved filled eyes…that would never be aimed at him.

And though it wasn't in his nature to hate…he could only feel hurt of knowing the girl he had thought would be his was already some one else.

How he envied Zuko…and how much he wished to just slap some sense into the guy for not realizing…

Wait…why did he grab her hand?

Oh…the green turned darker, and he turned away continuing to jerk the bison's reigns as they made their way out of the Fire Nation. And he kept to himself and his feelings of **envy** to drift and return some other day.

XXXXXXX

When was the last time I wrote anything in Aang's P.O.V? (btw if no one realized it was Aang by now seriously I'm gonna have to give you a ticket.)

Well anywayz…REVIEW DAM IT!

Mido-Ao


	21. 7 Deadly Sins: III : Gluttony

Alright, doing well so far…though I'm missing a couple regular reviewers here, Where ARE JOO!? (sob) Let's get going before I get off track!

Disclaimer: Gad I hate these things, egh. I don't own Avatar…eghhhh…

XXXXX

She couldn't help but return for more.

No matter how much it hurt in the end she would try and try until she would make a dent. Fighting him had gotten harder, and defeating him was slowly becoming unreachable. But she still challenged him. She still strived to defeat him.

It came to the point where she would feel emotional pain when she fought him. A clench in her chest would occasionally distract her when she would catch his eyes, this would give him his opening and ended with her defeat.

She would get up again though, she wouldn't fall to him. She wouldn't.

She would through her arms towards him, her water sailing in his direction, but it was too obvious, too slow. With barely any effort he would evaporate her water with a bit of fire and just watch her as she struggled to retain her breath.

"Why?" He would ask, pain was clear in his voice. It made her believe for a moment that fighting with her was probably causing him pain too. She would grunt and force her weakened body into a weak stance.

"Not…yet." She let out, breathing deeply with her nose only, her eyes were getting heavy with exhaustion and it was getting harder to keep her feet firmly on the ground.

Her view suddenly swayed and tilted and she could feel herself falling into someone's arms. "Why don't you just stop?" He asked her, his voice was close to her now, yet she swore he had been several yards away.

She looked into his eyes again, his cold golden eyes and smiled before seeing black. 'What a **Glutton** I am.' She thought before drifting into the darkness of sleep.

XXXXX

Up next is something I know many of you will squeal to. Nyehehe…well you know the rules, REVIEW!

Mido-Ao


	22. 7 Deadly Sins: IV : Lust

If I don't end up nose bleeding by the end of this then you can all do it for me. It won't be TOO much to handle. But there will be hints of citrus…or lime…prolly grapefruit. But that's as far as I go!! Any one who wants more should as a more ADULT person to write it. Or draw it.

BTW I've still yet to receive any drawings for my series thingy. Not that I'm asking for any, I'm just interested in your perspectives. (Is craving for drawings)

Disclaimer: I can't believe I have to write this again. (Sigh) alright here goes. (Inhale) I dun OWN AVATAR!! (Runs away)

XXXXX

Golden eyes widened when he turned around.

He hadn't expected to see her like that. At all. She was practically naked and yet she tells Uncle that she always trains with Aang like that.

The lucky bastard.

He could bet the little bald monk was rather full of himself now. But that's not what's making him worried/irritated right now.

Zuko tore his eyes away despite his sudden desire to let his eyes fall on _her_. That little peasant, seducing him in such an indirect way! He could already feel a tightening in his lower abdomen and it was getting harder to control his facial temperature.

He instantly got into a meditating position and began to breathe. For a while it worked, until she had decided to get out of the water. He could hear her near him and when she passed by she greeted him.

He merely grunted as she continued her way but, purely against his will, one eye popped open, and he got an especially good view of her from behind. The tightening got worse and his head was betraying him with images of her swaying hips.

His other eyes opened and he trailed her outline with his eyes, and at that very moment he cursed water benders. He cursed _her_, he cursed his raging teenage hormones and his lack of ability to control himself.

She stopped suddenly and she began to turn around, Zuko almost jumped before closing his eyes again and breathing deeper.

"Zuko, are you alright?" She called, Zuko almost groaned, the tightening was getting worse!

"Hn," He replied, pretending to actually want to concentrate on meditating. Which he wanted to he really did, but he also wanted to grab her and-

"You're sure? I mean, you're beet red." He opened his eyes and struggled with all his might to control himself. "I'm fine, Katara." He stated as fiercely as he could, it came out like a whine. A desperate whine.

Oh dear mother of Agni, she was walking towards him now. "You don't sound alright, are you feeling sick?" She asked with concern, Zuko lifted his eyes to meet hers in a convincing expression that he wasn't feeling bad at all.

That proved to be a mistake because on the way up his eyes wavered on her bosom. He jerked his face away, his heart racing painfully in his chest. Blood was pumped into his ears and he felt the tightening only progress.

"I-I'm fine." He stammered, his face continuing to heat up. She huffed, "No you're not, and I don't know about you but I will not be having someone sick while the rest of us are trying to stay healthy, now come on."

She grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet. Zuko did the only thing he had been taught to do throughout his life as a fire bending master in situations like this.

He panicked.

"Katara, really, I'm fine!" He insisted in vain. "Not yet you aren't." She stated as she walked with him, searching for a rock, a boulder, anywhere to sit him.

She found a tree stump and smiled, before dragging Zuko towards it. He was too busy trying to control himself and keeping his emotions in check to do anything when she sat him down.

She got a good look at him while he trained his eyes to stay stuck on the ground. She had cute ankles. NO! Control yourself, Zuko!! He struggled from letting his eyes from trailing up her bare legs.

"Whoa, you're really hot." She said, Zuko looked up almost in shock. Katara then caught the double meaning in her words before turning slightly red herself, "I mean you're really warm!"

Zuko found his eyes lowering from her face down to her neck and- He shut his eyes once more, oh dear he was feeling really warm now.

"Katara, I told you I'm fine." He grunted through gritted teeth. "I don't know, You're very red and too warm."

"I'm a Fire Bender, we're naturally warmer blooded than others." Zuko said, desperately looking for an exit, or something that would distract her enough to let him run away.

"I don't know, I need to check your temperature." He almost jumped when he felt a cool hand gently grasp his chin and move him towards her. "What are you doing?!" He asked almost fearfully. His mind was really going berserk here, ideas popped in his mind and Zuko found himself getting faint.

Maybe he was sick.

"Calm down, it's a little something I learned from back home." She said before lifting his bangs, He tried to inch away but found her getting closer and it was getting harder to control this sudden monster that just wanted to reach out and nab her towards him.

She pressed her forehead against his and Zuko gulped. 'Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down…' he chanted in his head. His eyes began to move down again and land on her chest, suddenly they were glued and he felt himself grow warmer through that.

"No doubt about it you have a fever-Zuko what are you doing?"

Zuko's eyes widened when he realized his hands were holding her shoulders. "I…uh, I-um," He stuttered, his eyes suddenly trailing towards her lips, and felt his own moisten. "What I mean to say is…" He tried to explain.

"Zuko…you're acting strange," She said her eyes wide and her cheeks red, naturally her hands were placed on the side of his face or on his chest.

He suddenly found this monster grow in strength, he realized how badly he wanted her at that most unfortunate moment. 'No, Zuko you're better than this! You're a prince, man, a prince and you're fouling your name and title! Zuko come on man, what would uncle do in these situations?'

A picture of Iroh celebrating with the blind girl while exclaiming, 'Grand Babies' came and went.

"Zuko…" She breathed, the way she said it had done it. It had caused a reaction within him that broke whatever chains that monster had on it, it made him lose all sense of logic and he found himself yanking her against him with such force it sent him toppling with her down to the ground.

He had rammed her mouth against his, pressed her body against his own and found himself suddenly thanking whatever spirit was watching them now made her lead him this far off.

She moaned in surprise and began to kiss him back with just as much vigor.

Zuko let his hands roam and felt the same monster from inside, **Lust **was its name, purr pleasantly within him when he felt her own hands dig within his shirt.

He found himself without a shirt and her chest wrap was sliding from her shoulders when they found themselves breathing for air and against the stump.

"I think I'm better now," He said to her, she nodded while still trying to regain her breath. "Uh huh," She let out, the monster growled and Zuko found himself capturing her lips with his own again, this time with less passion and less Lust than before.

XXXXX

Gah…(holds tissue to nose) this came out longer than expected and I'm getting endless shivers from this. o man I couldn't help it my fingers just wouldn't stop!! Gah! X.X

R-…review please…

Mido-Ao


	23. 7 Deadly Sins: V : Wrath

Well I don't have much to say now except sorry for not writing in a while. Will get to updating faster!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. But you know THAT already now, don't you:runs off crying:

XXXXXXXX

His heart was beating rapidly now. His face flooded in red and his eyes wide in awe.

Her voice tormented him. It tormented him so…

"You've lied to me…" She had said to him sadly. He felt his blood boil and his hands clenched at the two hilts that sustained his Dao Swords.

'I do NOT love her.' He thought furiously. 'I do NOT hide my other side.' He could feel the remnants of old memories carelessly phase through his mind. The blue mask disappearing within the waters of Lake Laogai was a memory that was purely in vain. He had brought back his mask.

'I do NOT care.' He growled at himself. He remembered hearing her gasp behind him. He still remembered the utter fear, the horror, at being caught a second time by an unwanted audience. He remembered on how he had heard her footsteps disappear into the distance and how the mask he wore stared at him…laughing at him for his stupidity…for his recklessness.

_Katara_…

Why did her name always echo in his mind…despite the fact he had never uttered it like a curse should never be uttered. She had ran away when she knew…she perfectly knew what He was. HE knew that she knew. He knew…and yet…

"NO!" He screamed at himself, letting **Wrath **fill his blood and flow within him like a poison…a poison he accepted fully. "I DO _NOT_ LOVE HER!!"

He let his swords at trees and grass. He moved so fast, so quick that even the leaves that fell through the air were sliced in half by blue silver blurs. The blades sung in the air, and Zuko let them dance never knowing that it was raining.

He stopped suddenly, the area around him sliced and ruined. Like his mind…like his heart.

Like his trust.

He screamed to the skies once more, letting the rain cry for him…like so long ago.

XXXXXXXXXX

…

Mido-Ao


	24. 7 Deadly Sins: VI : Greed

Yeesh, sorry for the long time in updating. But I'm having some issues with my Microsoft Word, program. If anyone wants to volunteer in helping try to fix it I'll reward them with a dedicated One-shot of the genre of their choice!  
Srsly...I'm so desperate for help on fixing that blasted thing I'll even make it extra fluffy if you want! lol 

Now onwards!

Disclaimer: I dun own Avatar. If I did I would at least cause MORE situations to make the Fans go insane. :P

XXXXXXXXX

Katara huffed.

Watching that, that _girl_ make a move on _HER _Zuko...it made her blood boil. Zuko, belonged to her. He told her himself, and she belonged to him. And no little E.K Girl is going to change those vows. Ignoring the calls of her friends, and the question HER boyfriend's uncle aimed at her, Katara stomped her way towards that GIRL and her Zuko.

"-I've missed you loads, Li. I mean I know I shouldn't have pushed that far but-" Katara caught her saying, Zuko looked way out of his comfort zone. Oh no, NO girl is going to make her boyfriend THAT uncomfortable except her! He was hers and No one else's!

"Hi!" Katara waved, the girl looked up. Obviously miffed at being interrupted she looked her up and down.

"Hello," She said. Katara sent her a vicious smile, wrapping her arm around Zuko's, Katara snuggled against Zuko. He seemed to tense but sent her a look, 'Thanks' it seemed to say. She smiled lovingly at him.

"And who are you?" The other girl, she had two braids hanging down her front. Katara noticed her bust then and there...it made her eyebrow twitch. Katara, knowing full well to keep Zuko's identity secret as well as her own, donned the name she had given herself to Long Feng.

"I'm Qua Mei. Li's _girlfriend_ and a master in martial arts...and you are?" Katara asked with false interest.

"Jin...Li's EX-girlfriend." Katara tensed. ex-_girlfriend_?

"_Really_ now?" Katara asked, a hint of danger in her tone, Zuko looked at her with nervous eyes. Katara sent him a glare. They're going to have a long talk after she got rid of _her_. "That's funny," Katara continued, sugaring her tone to a syrupy innocence. "He _never_ mentioned you."

Hurt seemed to phase on the other girl's eyes. Katara would've felt sorry for her...but **Greed** made her smile. "I'm sorry if I've made an intrusion."

"Oh, it's no problem at all." Katara said, puffing out her chest a little. "But Li and I have to be going now." Jin nodded before walking off. Katara's smile faded almost instantly when the girl was out of ear-shot.

"Ex-girlfriend?" Katara growled, dropping his arm instantly.

Zuko smirked at her, "We went out _once_. She's not that important." He said. Katara huffed again, "Any one you's had some relation with is important, Zuko. I can't have people coming back to finish what they've started, no way in hell!" Zuko rolled his eyes.

"I trusted you, and I hope you trust me. Okay?" Katara pouted, crossing her arms and turning her back on him. He smiled before sliding his arms around her waist. "I do...like I said...she's not that important." Katara smiled when he kissed her. Wrapping her arms around his neck she deepened it.

"Besides," Zuko said when they pulled away, "Since when were you the greedy type?"

"Since I realized how much of a chick-magnet you are." She murmured, and proceeded the make-up make-out with her boyfriend, pointedly ignoring her brother gag in the distance.

XXXXXXX

_Sigh_. It's true. he IS a chick-magnet. But can you blame him? I'd be greedy too, nyehehe...well review! They feed my imagination. and my imagination's been hungry lately. go figure.

Mido-Ao


	25. 7 Deadly Sins: VII: Sloth

Man, using notepad can be a cow. meeeh...;( 

oh well...sadly, NO ONE's tried to help...frankly I'm kinda saddened. Oh well...here's the last of the 7 series!!

Disclaimer: I can't believe this...UUUUGGGHHH...eye donut oun Avatar.

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The sky was an endless blue. It was wide and stretched as far as it could go. Being early morning, the sun was gentle but getting stronger as the day crawled on. There were several clouds slinking off in different directions. Some were slim and translucent others were large and a thick white. The group had decided to spend the beautiful day resting. However, Toph got bored and insisted on fighting Aang in earthbending. Sokka went to go watch and Iroh followed him to prepare some tea if they got thirsty.

That left Katara and her rival/best guy friend/sort-of-enemy. Zuko.

Katara blinked as she caught a curious figure in one particular fat cloud.

"Hey," She pointed out, lifting a hand and extending a finger towards it. "See that?" She murmured.

"What?" Her rival/best guy friend/sort-of-enemy asked. Katara rolled her head to look at him, Zuko tilted his head slightly to catch her gaze. The two were lying, side by side, on the slope of a hill too **Sloth**ful to do anything else. A large tree above them provided shade but with each breeze and the casual sway of branches small leaf-shaped rays swept over them.

"That cloud," She grinned. Zuko looked mildly interested. He was bored. She was bored, what better to end the boredness with talking about clouds?

"Which one?" Katara looked back at her finger pointed cloud. Wiggling her hand, she tried to lead him to it. "That one, the one that looks like a giant manatee-bear."

"The one by the Khomodo-rhino one?"

"No, no by the turtleduck one."

"...where's the turtleduck one?"

"By the khomodo-rhino one..."

"Oh...I see it now."

"Ok, see the Manatee-bear looking one?"

"Uh..."

Katara slid closer to him, their shoulders touching as she leaned over him to get him to see through the direction she pointed to. "A little to the left." She said. He squinted as another breeze ruffled the tree above them and a shower of light blinded him.

"Oh...yea I see it."

"Okay...your turn."

"Think I'll pass."

"Oh come on, it's not fair I had to go and you don't."

"I didn't know we were playing a game."

"Ok well now you know." Katara said in triumph, Zuko groaned. He didn't bother even pointing at one. "Try and find one that looks like a pygmy-puma." Katara looked around. It wasn't until she realized there wasn't one that she frowned and turned to face Zuko to give him a complain. She saw his back. Katara smiled before rolling her eyes and pushing his shoulder with her left hand. Zuko grunted, and Katara giggled. Another moment of silence passed and Katara took in a deep breath of early morning fresh air.

"Bored?" She asked him.

"Lazy." He grunted.

"Lazy?" She turned on her side to face him, she popped her head over his shoulder to catch his gaze. "You're never lazy." He made a face at her, she replied by sticking her tongue out to him. "Well I am today." He said looking away. Katara frowned and piled ontop of him. He let out a surprised/muffled/pained, "Oof!"

"That's a really funny thought." Katara said. ("Get off! You're killing me!" He wheezed, teasingly. "No, I don't think I will." Katara replied rolling on him to squish him further, He finally grinned at her and tried to shake her off. She didn't budge.)

"Weird funny or funny funny?"

Katara laughed, "both." She grinned. "Funny funny." She muttered as if it were a good joke, she rolled off him and spread out her arms and legs. Zuko smirked, glancing at the girl next to him. "You're crazy." He commented. He got a wide grin in response. "Nah...just lazy."

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Well that was the last of the 7 deadly sins series! frnakly, I liked it. Tis nice, I was trying the friendship approach on the two of them this time. I wanted to try something other than the instant love thing. lol.

Well, review! Srsly, I'm getting annoyed. XD

Mido-Aoi


	26. Much Needed Laughter

Jeez when was the last time I wrote something? Haha…I think it's kinda funny. (runs away before gets pelted with tomatoes) OKAY! I GET IT!! It's not funny!! Jeez…okay well I was listening to All my Best Friends are Metal Heads by Less than Jake and I was just slapped by an idea. So HERE'S TO YOU!! XDD

Disclaimer: Look at the word behind the colon and you'll understand what this is actually.

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Zuko choked when he felt the front of his shirt yanked backwards against his throat. Being pulled backwards he had no choice but to follow or die strangled. Clearing his throat from the slimy membrane that appears when you cough a lot Zuko looked up at the source of his near death experience. A vein nearly popped in his forehead.

"What the - What are you doing?!" Zuko exclaimed as he ran next to her.

"Just run, Zuko!" The waterbender exclaimed back, but with a grin this time. There were tears in her eyes but Zuko didn't think she was crying in any way. In fact she was giggling as she ran and her cheeks were red as though she had a laughing fit not to long before she nearly killed him.

"Why? What's…" He lowered his tone as a form of realization dawned upon him. Taking a turn he followed. "What did you do?" He asked accusingly. Surprisingly, she laughed her gleeful melodious laugh.

"I'll…explain later! Just run!"

Sure enough he followed after she had agreed to let go of his collar but instead she grabbed his hand and the two proceeded to run towards…well Zuko had no idea where they were going.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from the metal heads we call our friends!" Katara laughed. Zuko cocked a brow but he was suddenly knocked to a screeching halt into Katara. They collapsed forward.

Looking up from their dazed position Katara's face scrounged into a wide surprised grin whilst Zuko face faulted.

"We have come for JOO!!" Toph exclaimed dramatically, her blind eyes covered by a large metal oval pot that covered her head. A large grin was spread on her face and she held up two large metal spoons in the air in a dramatic pose.

Katara let out a sudden fit of laughter as she scrambled up from under Zuko. Zuko stood numbly and was yanked into action as Katara continued to run. But once again they were brought to a screeching halt, although they didn't fall this time.

Sokka and Aang both wore large metal pots that covered their eyes and held up metal utensils. Zuko stared in numb surprise. Katara doubled over in laughter before weakly trying to run again.

In the end Zuko caught up to his senses and tried to run away from the 'metal heads' as they called themselves. But trying to outrun a metal bending earthbender, a super speedy Airbender and dodging a sharpened boomerang was anything but effortless. And in the end both he and Katara were captured.

And although Zuko felt stupid at the end of the day with a metal pot over his head, extremely embarrassed that Katara was tied back to back with him and having Katara sneak a small kiss when they noticed Sokka and Aang weren't looking under the pots (The pot had fallen over his head but he was almost certain Katara saw his face turn scarlet and a strong blast of steam exploded from his ears). He couldn't help but keel over and let out a much needed fit of laughter.

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When you don't feel like laughing it's when you really need to do so. So what are friends for if not to make you keel over and laugh yourself? Still friendship thingy with a bit of fluff in the end, really hope you liked it!

Listen to that song! It is way cool!

Mido-Ao


	27. Dog Ears

Are? OH! OHAYO-GOZAIMASU! KONNICHIWA AND KONBANWA! Hajimemashite! Haha can you tell? I just recently finished watching Ouran High School Host Club and just fell over heels in love with the show (_swoon_) well that means a special chapter for all of you!

Arigato! For supporting me and now for this Japanese-fun-filled short one-shot!!

Disclaimer: I DISCLAIM AVATAR!!! XDD

(note: Oh BTW…for those who haven't seen the show or never heard of it, I ENCOURAGE FOR YOU TO WATCH IT!! ONEGAI!!)

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"_Iie_..."

"Just this once-"

"No…"

"Oh come on-"

"No…"

"_Onegai_-"

"No."

"I…"

"No."

"Can I just-"

"No!"

"Just one tweak-"

"I SAID NO!"

"Zuko-"

"SHIKUSO, KATARA, NO!"

"Don't be so stingy!!" Katara whined, on her knees…_begging._ Zuko glared heatedly at her, smoke coming out of his nose. On the top of his head was probably the most unexpected thing to see…

"Leave my ears alone!" Katara cringed but immediately muffled a squeal. Dog ears…black dog ears…and they were twitching. In fact these dog ears resembled that of a cat's…and they were on top of Zuko's head.

"_Demo_-"

"NO!" It's been like that for a while…ever since they had stumbled upon a society of magic they have been cursed. Aang had the tail of a lemur, Toph had badger paws, Sokka had arctic hen feet and Iroh was stuck with the shell of a turtle. Katara's hands and feet turned web like and the rest of her appearance made her Zuko's target (Beside Sokka).

And as you can expect Zuko was stuck with cat/dog ears and claws. Sure enough all of them was stuck with the qualities of the animals they were cursed with. And Katara, after getting over the fact she could swim faster than a fish she turned to Zuko…

And whined and groaned for him to let her touch his oh-so-adorable ears. "Please, Zuko just one tweak-"

"NO!"

"Oh come on! Is that the thanks I get for feeding you all this time?!" Katara snapped, getting desperate. Her ill mood stopped short when Zuko's ears twitched lightly and he winced. "You talk too loud!" He growled. And this time it really sounded like a growl.

But his snap hadn't affected her when her eyes got all shiny and a bright pink blush escaped across her face. Zuko flinched, his eyes dilating as she neared him. "Katara…I'm serious…" He mumbled as she cornered him against a tree.

"Zuko it's just one touch-"

"No."

"If you let me touch them I'll stop bothering you." Katara promised. Zuko's expression turned dry, "You said that last time." He hissed. Then Katara pouted and for the reasons most unknown Zuko found himself captive by her own adorable appearance.

Katara took notice of the light blush that escaped over his cheeks and smirked when he looked away. "Zuko…" She let out, her tone switched from whiny to sultry so fast Zuko snapped his head towards her.

He pressed his back far tighter against the tree. His heart rammed against his chest and the blood thumped in his ears. Katara took a step forward and Zuko let out a tiny "Eep!"

He was suddenly afraid. Oh so very afraid at this incredibly hot looking, (her cute appearance morphed dangerously when her eyes half lidded and a suggestive smile spread over her rosy pink lips) Katara.

"Just one touch, Zuko…" She whispered. Zuko gulped and found himself melting…_NO! I MUST BE STRONG!_ Shaking his head furiously he looked to the side placing his sight on a tree and focused so hard smoke began to sizzle from the wood of the tree.

"Zuko…" He jumped when he felt her hand on his chest and slide up to his collar, to his neck and on the back of his head. A shiver ran up and down his spine pleasantly.

"One touch." He looked into her eyes and found her nearing his face. He could already feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek. The scent sent him reeling…she smelt of strawberries…

He found himself closing his eyes as Katara continued to subdue him. He was sliding down the trunk of the tree. Katara smirked even wider…

"_Ii_…_Iie_…Katara…" He moaned. Katara found herself liking the little sound that escaped his throat. It sounded like a purr…But her hands already slid up his head and her fingers finally met the sensitive ears. They twitched much to her delight and she caught them before the twitched again.

"_Hai_, Zuko." She murmured and began to rub the two black ears between her fingers.

Zuko moaned and Katara continued to rub them gently. Her sultry look now gone that he was under her control. A triumphant grin on her lips as she giggled softly.

"Ka-Katara…" He breathed as his head was now on her lap his ears receiving the most delicious sensation he would probably never experience through ever again. "That wasn't fair…" He mumbled as a pleased little smile spread on his head.

Katara giggled at his expense before playing with his ears. "Nothing's fair, Zuko…"

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I would've added a kiss but that would've changed this situation. But yea. It was through a few crack!thoughts and some Inuyasha and OHSHC (Ouran High School Host Club) influence that finally got me to write it. (Sigh) up next! Aang and Toph!

_Ohayo-gozaimasu, Konnichiwa, Konbanwa_ Good Morning, Hello, Good evening  
_Hajimemashite _Pleased to meet you!  
_Arigato _Thank you  
_Iie_ No  
_Onegai _ Please  
_Shikuso_ Dammit, Shit  
_Demo_ But  
_Hai_ Yes

Mido-Ao


	28. Kissing

Alright! I've returned with another idea! And this time it will satisfy your needs tonight!! XD Well this is sorta serious sort of weird…

I dunno. Well for those who've seen the cover for Season 3 DVD you'll get a nice pic of Katara's appearance. And for those who haven't go here. http://www(dot)tvshowondvd(dot)net/graphics/news3/AvatarS3V1(dot)jpg

Trust me it will be completely worth it!! XD

Disclaimer: I disclaim Avatar. Duh.

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Zuko had obviously no idea how to handle girls, how to deal with their terrible mood swings and coded messages. He had no idea on how to deal with their change of mind or when they cried…or when they needed comfort at any level. He didn't know how to handle Jin…he had tried but failed. And now he's got another girl to worry about.

And not just any girl…no it had to be the very water bender that he had thought he hated, the friend of the Avatar and the obstacle that had ruined his chances at capturing the avatar in the beginning and the brat that kept challenging him when he had an idea or thought differently than the others.

No, not Toph.

Katara.

What's more he had kissed her. Oh yea, right after they had defeated Ozai and she had told him everything was going to be alright after she healed what she could of his scar. It wasn't entirely gone, his tear ducts were fixed and he got his other eyebrow back. But there was still part of the burn under his eye and over his brow…

But the point is there wasn't the monstrosity his father inflicted on him any more…and what better to pay the girl who just healed a parental caused blemish that brought you ultimate anguish and pain every time you looked in the mirror for the past three year? That's right, you grab her by the face and shove your mouth right against hers and engage her in a challenge of who can have the other moaning first. (He won by the way)

If the circumstances have been different, in his idea, they would've gone far past making out if they hadn't gotten interrupted from that idiot of a brother of hers. Even though he felt slightly guilty for pushing himself on her he never regretted it.

Well the war was declared over and now his Uncle had all gathered a ball of sorts in The Fire Nation as a means of celebrating the end of the war, however he had to leave at the last minute leaving Zuko with a lot more to worry about. Zuko was nearing his coronation, and every one was hunky dory. Right? Sadly…they couldn't be more wrong.

Sokka still wanted to murder him, (that one situation he kissed Katara right after they defeated Ozai was unacceptable by all means and unforgivable) Aang had probably turned into a female, ranging in number two behind Katara in being moody. Toph was always teasing him, Ty Lee always giggling about it and chasing after Sokka and Mai being completely evasive on the subject.

Katara was obviously avoiding him, (That kiss had been all but chaste and the situation had completely freaked the two out and made them wary of their own feelings.) while Mai was doing the exact opposite.

The meeting was awkward at first but then started getting a bit more bearable. Aang was in his cheerful twelve year old attitude, Toph was finding any and all excuses not to see her parents and hanging out with Aang to see how they could make the place more lively, Sokka was eating more than twice his fill while flirting with Ty Lee, and Mai would either be at his side or speaking to someone important in his stead.

It wasn't until they all had reunited again by the food table that easy slightly awkward conversation had turned to one of Zuko's most frightening situations.

"So…Zuko kissing any other girls lately, or are you looking?" The simple teasing question from Toph had sparked a conversation Zuko did not want centered on him.

Sokka had begun his glaring, Aang switched moods again in a blink, Mai's slightly pleasant expression turned dark, Katara's face flushed red and her eyes darted to the ground while Ty Lee merely giggled. "I rather not answer that." He had stated.

"No, Zuko you should really answer that." Sokka hissed dangerously. Zuko kept his face as straight as he possibly could, "Whether I kiss girls or not is my business, Sokka."

"Girls, I have no problem with, my SISTER, I can't deal with!!" Sokka snapped. A dark glare placed itself down on Katara's face. "Stop making it such a big deal! It happened so it happened, just let it go already!"

"No I won't!"

"Stop being such a jerk!" Katara let out.

"He shouldn't have kissed you!"

"She shouldn't have kissed back." Mai interjected.

"How could she not when she was the victim in this case?!" Sokka growled.

"Victim?!" Katara and Zuko both exclaimed, indignant.

"She/I was not a victim!" Katara and Zuko chorused.

"Oh, So I suppose you both wanted to kiss each other am I right!" Sokka stomped his foot, the hall had gone terribly quiet during their spat. Zuko and Katara both paused, not knowing how to exactly answer that as a terrible blush escaped through their cheeks.

"Look maybe I wanted to kiss Zuko, maybe I didn't. The point is what's done is done! Let it GO!" Katara shot at her brother. Aang winced and Toph smirked lightly, Ty Lee was silent throughout the ordeal, and Mai had a sad look on her face.

"No!"

"You are SO ANNOYING!" Katara snarled. "I don't care he shouldn't have kissed you!" Sokka shot at her.

"What if I _like_ him kissing me?!" Katara snapped. "I forbid you to!"

"Argh! You stupid over manipulative jerk! You know what I'm not going to listen to you!" She fumed. "Go tell Dad, I don't care! I'm through!" and with that she marched off with her brother marching right after her. Things in the ball room settled down but Zuko had to leave due to all the stares he was getting. It was just downright embarrassing.

This brings us back to Zuko…whom is sitting in the garden just outside the ballroom his head on his hands and his elbows on his knees. Brooding over the fact of how he could've let things get the way they are now.

'I have no control over any of this' he thought grimly.

"Hey…" Zuko's head shot up and quickly turned around. He looked away quickly when he saw the girl he had shared his (official) first kiss with. She was looking at some random flower and fidgeting with her skirt while a light blush was hardly visible in the dark of the night.

"Hey…" He replied. It was waay awkward.

"I'm sorry about tonig-"

"I didn't mean to – "

They said at the same time and looked at each other before looking away sheepishly again. "Sorry." They chorused.

"You go first." They said in unison. Katara giggled softly and Zuko smiled, "Uh…you go." He offered.

She nodded gratefully. "I'm sorry about my brother…he was being a jerk and since I know he won't ever apologize I should do it for him."

"It's okay…I understand why he would do that. If the circumstances were different and I saw Azula kissing some other guy I'd freak out too." Zuko reasoned but then paused. "Actually I'd just be grossed out and pity the guy she'd be kissing."

Katara laughed. Zuko found he liked the sound a lot…it was soothing. "I can't blame you there…"

"I'm sorry…about tonight. I had hoped you would've enjoyed coming here." He shrugged. Katara snickered, "I did have a good time…just up until Sokka opened his big mouth…"

They shared a light laugh and paused for a second. Zuko then realized the sudden tension between them and gulped. Oh if uncle were here instead of managing that stupid tea restaurant he would know what to do.

"Katara…" He murmured enough for her to hear. "Yes?" She replied softly.

"When…I…well when I kissed you," The two blushed, but refused to look at each other "Did you uhm…think about us…well…you know." Katara looked away, her locks of brown hair spilling over her shoulder as she did so, but Zuko did catch the blush on her cheeks. He could feel his own cheeks warm too as his heart began to race a little more.

"Getting together?" She added, Zuko straightened when she looked at him. "Well…yea…I mean…" she paused, biting her lip, nervous.

"I never thought someone like you…would kiss me like that and well…I was just so confused on how I felt…" She said slowly, as if cautious. Zuko looked away for a moment. "And…what did you feel?" He asked.

"Um…" She breathed, he could hear her fidgeting increase. "Well…like…I don't know…it just felt…right."

Zuko slowly turned to look at her, she was still blushing and fidgeting. Zuko smiled before laughing softly.

"You're laughing!" She gasped in horror.

"No, I'm not laughing at you." Zuko said quickly, "I just think this whole situation is just amazing…"

Katara smiled, "Yea…it's actually kind of funny." Giggling again she caught Zuko smiling at her, with sudden warmth in his eyes that had her breath get caught in her throat. "Zuko?"

He slowly raised a hand and gently placed it on her right cheek. Katara stared into his golden eyes, and felt something there she had thought she would never feel towards her former enemy. Zuko began to lean in and could feel her do the same, "Katara." He whispered, relishing the feeling she was leaving over him.

It wasn't until their parted lips met that Katara pressed against him and let her arms wrap around his neck. Zuko let his arms slide over her waist and press her against him closing all space between them. And for the second time they kissed each other fervently and this time with no interruptions.

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I would've added more but I don't think I would've been able to find another ending point for a while. Yay Love prevails!!

Review like crazy!

Mido-Ao


	29. Penguin

Well I was searching for some art on DEVart when I saw possibly the most adorable comic ever. And I just couldn't let this go...credit for the idea goes to RimFrost on DevArt! XD

WARNING: SHORT FLUFF!!!

Disclaimer: I dun own Avatar…

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Katara looked up from her scroll, an impressed look clearly written on her face. Turning to Zuko, whom was sitting next to her while they waited for the others to return from shopping, she looked back at her scroll.

"Did you know…" She began, catching Zuko's attention. "That when a Penguin finds its mate they stay together for the rest of their lives?"

It wasn't long until she felt him shuffle next to her that she looked up and saw him pluck a small dandelion from the ground beneath them, the surprise that spread on her face when he offered it to her was no where near the shock of what he said next.

"Be my penguin?"

A small smile spread on her face despite the blush on her cheeks. Katara leaned in and placed the gentlest kiss on Zuko's lips.

XXXXXXXXXX

O.O I know…I squealed too…

Review please!!

Mido-Ao


	30. The Tango Flamenco

Voila! And we have another dancing shot! Haha! Prepare yourselves! I used the song, Tango Flamenco – Gypsy Kings – Spanish guitar, for this very fic so if you want go ahead, download it, sample it whatever if it'll get you into the mood!

And now…it begins.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar…that much is pretty obvious.

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"Don't speak." His words came out as a soft hiss. Katara felt her heart jump as he felt his hand slide around her waist and press into the small of her back, pushing her towards him. "Don't even move…until you feel it." It was the dark of the night. And it made the mood even more seductive than she would've thought.

Her eyes glided from his arms to his eyes and instantly she felt captivated by those golden orbs. "Follow my lead." He murmured silently as he grasped her hand. Katara gulped inaudibly and nodded.

Their bodies were pressed tight against each other. If a paper was placed between them it would not slip. Instantly when she felt his right leg move she moved her left leg backwards. Soon they were walking backwards. Katara's breathing was short and almost choked. She was not used to being treated this way by anyone and never thought her former enemy would be teaching her something so…exotic.

Suddenly they stopped and he moved his hand a certain way that had her move her hips sharply to the sides. Then he pushed away from her. The warm air felt cold as his even warmer body left hers.

Disappointment came and went when he grabbed her upper arm and spun her around, She finished with her back facing his chest and she gasped softly when his arm wrapped around her waist and his other lifted her right hand upwards. His mouth happened to be right next to her ear, so she could feel his warm breaths against her cheek. The next words had her shuddering pleasantly.

"Trust me."

It was like honey on a lemon. Katara suddenly felt herself lose herself to the movements and soon found herself making moves of her own.

It was when they did a certain move that she let out a tiny squeak of surprise. She didn't even notice the soft hiss that escaped his lips but did notice how that very move was perfected on the second try. And so they did it again and Katara had to control the blush that spilt on her cheeks. It was dark, although the moon cascaded a soft silver light over them and reflected on the water of the lake next to them. It was probably the most romantic moment of her life and Katara couldn't believe it was with Zuko.

They twirled, spun, and did moves Katara would've never pulled off by herself…or with anyone else, for that matter. He would lift her, she would kick the air and wrap her leg around his waist. Then he would jerk her back and she would splay her arms out behind her, trying to ignore the ecstasy that held her hostage as his hands roamed her body.

He would pull her in and move around in circles so fast Katara's hair would at times end up falling from her braid and spreading around her face, where she would perspire. Their heartbeats would beat together and their breaths quickened after ever fast move and they slid to a slower far more seductive move.

It was after he spun her and brought her close that she realized how close their faces were. Their lips barely an inch apart.

Then suddenly, much to her dismay, they would split apart and continue with the dance. Her feet would rise and kick when he pushed his leg against hers. Then he would jerk her in and she would spin and once again land with her back facing his chest, but her head turned that their eyes stayed glued in each other's gaze.

He would dip her and bring her back, move his hips against hers in ways no one else would dare. Soon the attraction was too much for Katara, and the electricity that kept her exhilarated helped in keeping it up.

Katara could hear the music…and she wondered if he could too.

Suddenly the song seemed to close between them, and Katara had her arms held up high, wrists gently touching, and one of his arms circled around her waist, the other thrown backwards.

The water of the lake splashed and at times sparks of fire would shoot from his heels when they spun. Finally about what seemed like an eternity and two seconds Zuko spun them around to end with her leaning on his left leg, his other stretched behind him. Katara had her right leg wrapped around his waist and her left stretched against his right. One of her hands held his head against hers while the other one was held by his and his other arm was placed on the small of her back.

Their gazes locked. Katara breathed softly, almost shuddering. Zuko breathed slowly almost gasping.

Their lips merely a centimeter apart, hardly brushing. Katara felt her eyes flutter close, Zuko slid his gaze from her eyes and to what he could see of her lips.

He pressed his lips against hers ever so softly. In moments the butterfly kiss morphed into something more passion filled.

The realization struck them both and they jerked away, gasping for breath and standing far from the other.

"Uh…" Katara's voice broke and she cleared her throat as she began to fix her hair shakily. "I think we should go back."

"Uh, Y-yes…We should." Zuko replied quickly, lowering his head as a heavy blush flashed over his cheeks.

"So…I'll…I'll see you tomorrow night?" Katara asked, nervously. Zuko nodded quickly, the shock, embarrassment and want for the girl confused him and he almost stumbled his words momentarily. "R-right. Tomorrow…uhm…"

"Well…bye!" She said her tone almost cheerful despite the shudder behind it. She quickly turned around and walked off, wobbling a little due to the dance and kiss they had both shared.

Zuko stood stock still his brain going over the look she had thrown over her shoulder and though Zuko chastised himself and scolded himself a lot he couldn't help but feel a surge of male pride to see that he had done that to her. He would not forget the look of want from her eyes, even though it lasted a moment.

That night would stay planted on their minds forever.

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Hee-hee…(giggles retardedly) I sure liked the end of this one. XDD Well…don't hesitate to review! I'm eager for your responses!

Mido-Ao


	31. Dealings

Hee-hee…I just couldn't help write this…

WARNING: OMEGA ANGSTY FLUFF!!

Disclaimer: Gah…I DISCLAIM IT!! There! (runs away)

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Zuko was pissed off.

He usually was…but this time the cup overflowed. He absolutely HATED her! How DARE she treat him so…so…so…well he didn't know how she treated him exactly…All he needed to know was that he didn't like it.

One moment she's smiling at him. The next she cursing him off! Then the next she's apologizing. And suddenly she slaps him!! What is UP with that girl?!

Be it PMS or some weird sickness he had had it!

Prince Zuko was going to make a stand!

And that's what he did!

Rising to his feet, he marched his way towards her. Ignored the little request she asked him to get a bowl, grabbed her by the fore arm and dragged her away from the camp, pointedly ignoring her sputters of annoyance, indignation and ignorance.

"Zuko! Would you STOP?!" She had exclaimed. And no shortly after her exclamation did Zuko deemed it far enough for him to commence his own share of rants. Rounding on her he attacked. "What the hell is your problem!"

Her blue eyes narrowed dangerously and a sharp frown pulled at her now agape lips. "_excuse _me? What's _your_ problem? You just up and grabbed me out of nowhere, dragged me about a mile from camp and suddenly start yelling at me!"

"No I meant, what is up with you! For two weeks you've been so moody it's driving me and everyone around here crazy! One moment your okay the next you start biting other people's head off like some enraged wolf-bat!"

"I am not an enraged wolf-bat!" She shot back, now completely angry.

"That's not the point!" Zuko snarled. They glared at each other.

"I am so out of here." With that Katara turned around and began to march off. Zuko breathed fire, running around he stomped his foot and jumped in front of her, blocking her way.

"Zuko. Move aside." She hissed. Zuko frowned, "Not until you tell me what your deal is."

Katara huffed, impatient. "I said, move Zuko." She snapped.

He crossed his arms. Katara glared more heatedly at him, her cheeks now rosy due to pent up anger. (Well that's what he thought)

"Fine!" She exclaimed, infuriated. Zuko smirked and opened his mouth to express his relief and victory. But the sudden yank of his collar caused his words to choke at the back of his throat and the two soft lips that came into contact with his own caused all matter of sense to fall around him.

He went rigid, his eyes wide, and arms held up in the air with surprise and shock.

She had kissed him.

Her lips molded perfectly into his and her body close to his. It felt like an eternity until she broke away but when she did it felt as though she did it too soon.

She had a light frown on her face, but her rosy cheeks said anything but anger.

"You're my deal." She muttered, her voice shook…as though she herself couldn't believe what she did.

Zuko stood frozen, his eyes wide and his cheeks now a bright red. As she walked passed him and back to camp, her red clothes fading from his peripheral sight, Zuko found himself fearing the waterbender. He found himself afraid not because of what she did…but of what she had caused within him.

The anger from earlier was gone. And fear of the ecstasy her kiss exploded within him kept him stock still.

His heart rate was still pretty fast and his lips tingled from the sweet chaste kiss. After about ten minutes all reality crashed on Zuko. _He wanted _more.

"UGH!! NO FREAKING WAY!!" He cried out to no one as his hands shot to his head and he arched back in horror.

So that's why he was pissed off…

He had fallen in love with her.

Dammit

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Hee-heeeee…(giggles retardedly) review please!!

Mido-Ao


	32. Hugs

Hullo everyone once again! This is another short…well it's not THAT short…but a relatively short one shot…I dunno when it comes to writing sometimes I'll just completely go over board and write 20 pages worth…haha oh well Oh BTW There will be a small announcement on the bottom of the Chapter!

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH

Disclaimer: I DISclaim Avatar

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_It was times when people feel the most alone that the smallest gestures are possibly the best._

Zuko had never really cared about simple things. When you lived in a period of war simple things like, smiles, candy, smores, and even tea weren't things one would think about, even the simplest gestures like smiling, laughing or hugging didn't really matter to him, especially hugging. Sure he sometimes hugged at random. Like when he had hugged his uncle when the tea shop was going well. other than that it didn't really mean that much to him. It was a hug...big deal.

Being raised in the fire nation with his family…getting hugs were rare. It was usually from his mother and uncle that he had even shared some form of affection. With Azula and Ozai it had been a different story. Only once had he embraced his sister and that was before she had turned into the cruel sadist she turned out to be. But Iroh hadn't really been involved in Zuko's life all the time and Ursa had disappeared when he was ten.

So hugging wasn't something he was so used to.

But it wasn't something he rejected. Although sometimes he avoided it.

When he had joined the Avatar's group (He didn't really admit them as his family although deep down he had already held them close) he was usually left out of the 'group hugs' and the 'group laughs' and the 'group fights'. He did get into individual fights though, sometimes with Aang, Most of the time with Sokka and Katara, and barely with Toph. (He knew not to mess with the blind earthbender after that time she dug him in the ground and it took the whole day to get out.)

However when time permitted it he would smile or chuckle, but he would never laugh much less hug someone. The only person he had, willingly, hugged was the waterbender. And she had hugged him.

And it was only once, although the group would coax him to a hug, he would simply turn it down or run off far, far away… Or the group would corner him and pile on top of him or pin him to a tree and then embrace him. Point said is Zuko wasn't a very huggy person.

He didn't really see the point to hugs. A simple 'Thank you' or a smile would suffice for him. And he was just fine with how things were…he didn't need a hug…but then…

Then Iroh passed away…

It was possibly the coldest day of his life. Everyone had arrived at the ceremony, all those who knew the general…the legendary Dragon of the West where at the cremating ceremony to bid their farewells and goodbyes. Gods even the Manager of the tea shop of Ba Sing Se was there.

And though there were so many people feeling his grief, no one felt what he felt. No one had been so connected to him as he did. And that's how he felt…like he was alone. How was he ever going to rule the country without Iroh at his side to help? Without the old man's proverbs and horribly pleasant jokes or great appraisals…?

It was like losing his father all over again except this time it felt more painful and horrid.

And when it rained it felt like the skies were also mourning the loss of the great man. Even through the rain his body burned with undying fire and Zuko would watch with hooded eyes.

And he stayed by the pyre long after everyone had dispersed…save one person.

"Zuko…"

He didn't move, his eyes were still on the now dying embers of his uncle's dais. But he could feel the footsteps and the movement of her body near him.

"It's hard to believe that…" Zuko murmured, and suddenly it felt like his throat had swelled and his voice broke. He paused, trying so hard to push down the feeling like he was trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "…He's gone."

"He's not gone." Her voice was like the rain. Regardless, Zuko slowly turned his head to see her better, his golden eyes eyeing her from the corners. Her face was smooth and clean, but her eyes were pink and a trail of tears had made its mark visibly despite the rain that disguised it. Her clothes hung to her body as the rain continued its downpour.

Thunder rumbled behind them, the sound exquisite as it complimented the endless drops of rain or the occasionally pop of the dying flame.

Her blue eyes rose and met his own.

He had never become aware of how he had completely turned towards her. She had neared him and placed a gentle hand on his chest. The gentle feeling was surprising when he knew what her hands were capable of doing when in battle.

"He's in here…and he's up there." She looked up and Zuko followed her gaze to the light gray of the sky above them, his eyes fluttering when drops came too near.

"Always watching you."

He looked back down at her and she was smiling, albeit sadly. Her soft eyes said it all for him. The thin ice that held back all his emotions for the past week cracked and collapsed as a torrent of pain and anguish engulfed him.

He hung his head and instantly her arms were around his waist and held tightly against his back. Zuko's arms followed quickly and he squeezed her tightly against him, his chin on her shoulder. The tears that flowed from his good eye and the soft sobs that racked his body had her tightening her hold on him. And he could equally feel warm tears in contrast of cold drops on his shoulder.

It was on that day that Zuko realized that in that moment when he held her tiny form against his own larger one how much a hug could really be the most simplest action yet say much more than the sweetest words in a eulogy ever could.

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Cause we all know he is in desperate need of a hug. ;)

And when Zuko's in desperate need of a hug, I am in desperate need of a Beta-Reader.

PLEASE! By all means, SOMEONE HELP ME!! I need a Beta! If you are up to it, PLEASE! CONTACT ME! And how do you contact me?

With Reviews, Reviews, and MORE Reviews!!

Point said, Adios.

Mido-Ao


	33. Invitation

Wow, no doubt you all hate me now huh. Hahaha…

I am so sorry. (bow)

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

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Mai sighed when she looked at the invitation in her hands.

"You'd think they'd cut me some slack." She muttered before folding it back and throwing it on top of a pile of opened invitations that have been sent to her millions of times.

"I don't see why you don't want to go." Her friend's usual bubbly voice was sullen and disappointed. Mai frowned.

"I'm not asking you to stay with me. If you want to go, then go." Ty Lee frowned back before sighing, she rolled over on Mai's bed and ignored her request to get off for the millionth time.

"Yea but, it won't be as fun. With Azula behind bars things won't be the same you know." Mai snorted.

"I rather they won't, you can go I'm not stopping you." Ty Lee shot up from the bed, "Well, I'm not going alone." Ty Lee announced, her eyes narrowed, "It'd be embarrassing if I didn't have someone I knew."

Mai glanced back at the window where the messenger hawk had come from. The sun was still pretty low in the sky to still be morning. She could still see the palace from where she stood.

"That water tribe boy would be there, you know him." Mai said with a shrug. Ty Lee's face flushed slightly, "Yea well, I doubt I would be of any interest to him anyway, but boy is he cute." Ty Lee giggled at the end.

Mai rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Mai." Ty lee urged softly, "Maybe he won't be there." Mai sighed. Ty lee may have been a bit of a bubble head and soft, but when she could she was sharp, there was no hiding it. She hit the nail right on the head.

"We can't be sure…and after that note he left me…well I doubt I could be anywhere close to him now." There was an awkward silence and Mai wondered if Ty Lee was regretting bringing it up.

"So…you're sure about not going?" Ty Lee asked sadly. Mai nodded, "Yea…besides. It's not like we did anything to help with Ozai's end anyway, all we did is just step aside for the Avatar to do his job."

"That was pretty fun though," Ty Lee giggled, before stretching out over the bed. "Their expression was so funny."

Mai didn't say anything before she thought back on that day.

"You don't think…he and that water girl have…" She trailed off, and Ty Lee looked up at her friend confused.

"Have what?"

Mai shook her head. "Nothing…you know what, let's go."

Ty Lee rolled off the bed, "What?"

Mai smiled at her friend's obvious shock. "I decided it would be too boring sitting this whole after war party thing, it'd be great to probably change a few things…gain a few friends…"

Ty Lee's mouth was full agape now, "Mai…are you alright?"

She chuckled softly, "Fine…if you don't want to go and flirt with the water boy then that's fine by me…"

"No, no, no!" Ty Lee rushed up to her friend and hugged her. "That's great!"

Mai smiled before look outside the window and towards the palace.

_Please forgive me,_

_But what I wanted wasn't what I really thought it was. _

'I forgive you Zuko.'

"Come on, let's go boss some servants around." Ty lee giggled at that.

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I know weird. Hardly a mention of our favorite couple, but their in there some how.

I'll update tomorrow guys!

Mido-Ao


	34. How to say Thank You

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

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His fist landed on the wall, smoke rising softly from the clenched limb. His eyes were narrowed and brows furrowed into a most angry expression. "What will it take for you to get it?" He whispered furiously.

Turning his golden eyes across the dark moonlit room to the dark skinned waterbender he hissed through clenched teeth, "Can't you understand that I am at fault?! I understand that I made that mistake, I know what I did. Why can't you?!"

She glared at him half-heartedly, her mouth set in a grim line.

"It is not your fault, Zuko." She said, averting her eyes from his glowing golden ones. He growled before jerking his face away turning his back to her.

"Don't insult me, Katara." He said sharply. She looked back at him, "I am not insulting you. I'm telling you the truth. It is not your fault."

"Yes it is…" He turned around and walked towards her, fully walking into the light the window let in. His pale skin glowed and his eyes seemed to radiant golden hues. Katara almost felt her breath choke in her throat.

"If it wasn't for me your brother wouldn't be suffering the way he is. Toph wouldn't be throwing at me hateful insults and the Avatar – Aang – wouldn't have disappeared for help. I was stupid…I could've hurt you…" He looked to the ground in shame.

A soft tan hand placed itself on his cheek lifting his face for him to look into two soft blue eyes. "Zuko…it isn't your fault. You only reacted the way you thought you needed to. I never thought I would be the one to understand what happened, I should've been the one to see the most fault in you…but I can't. Because I knew I would've done the same thing you had done."

Zuko felt something inside him break, and his eyes clenched sadly. "Look at me, Zuko."

He obeyed looking at her as she walked closer to him. "What you did saved Aang. It saved me…Sokka was only in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I've already healed him the best I could…Please, Zuko. Don't blame yourself anymore."

Zuko placed his hands on hers, "Katara, try to understand…I am only trying to," He didn't finish.

Two soft lips stopped him from speaking anymore, and her hands had left his to hold his neck and head. The most sublime feeling, almost like cool rain falling around him, overwhelmed him and he could only close his eyes.

She pulled away after a few seconds. Zuko was left dazed, his brows furrowed softly over closed eyes and his lips tingling as he tried to pinpoint what he had felt. When he opened his eyes he found Katara giving him the softest expression she had ever given him. His heart almost jumped to his throat.

"Zuko…I'm glad that you care, and know that I care too. Don't hurt yourself like this anymore, please. It makes it harder for me to heal you."

"I…" He began but stopped. He nodded and leaned in closer to her. "…Thank you."

He placed his lips on hers and felt her return it, he placed his hands on her shoulders and back.

When they parted she was blushing, and he was soon in shock to realize he was too. "You're welcome."

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Well…yea you know… review and all that stuff… - _Mido-Ao_


	35. Convenience

Egad! Is it really true?! Have I returned with a new one-shot? Better believe it, because my brain be overflowing yo!

Haha

Disclaimer: I love Avatar…but sadly I don't own him.

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It all started with a trip to get firewood…in the rain.

Of course trying to find dry wood in a soaking rain like this is hardly possible. As any sane and outside smart person would say under rain like this, you wouldn't find a chance in hell in finding dry wood. Zuko knew that it was pointless, but Katara kept insisting she could bend wood dry.

Zuko, never really doubting her, didn't agree. Well he didn't disagree either…he never had a chance too. Katara seemed intent to showing him, because "I won't have you thinking you're better than us!"

So she never really allowed him to even agree. Aang offered to go along, wary that Katara might do something to his new firebending teacher. Sokka almost threw them into the rain, eager to see what she'd do, and Toph didn't really care, as for the Duke, Teo and Haru…well they just watched.

So Zuko was now walking in the rain, soaked to the bone (because it'd be pointless to firebend himself dry if he'd just get soaked again) and cold while the waterbender remained perfectly dry.

She didn't even bother to share umbrella space with him! If he got a cold he would make sure to make her miserable about it.

Sure enough they walked…and walked…and walked…without so much as breathing a word to each other and in the meanwhile the rain got worse…and worse…and worse…

"How long do we have to walk to get wood?!" Zuko called to her over the loud crashing of rain striking the ground, his fists clenched impatiently.

"Until I say we stop!" Katara yelled back, her tone no happier than Zuko's. He growled, "I can't believe this." He muttered under his breath as he continued lifting his feet off muck, mud and water.

It must've been close to an hour that they walked, and finally they seem to reach a large old oak tree that provided some shelter from the rain. Katara placed the umbrella down and began to look around, Zuko rolled his eyes and removed his sopping wet shirt to wring it from some of the water that held him down.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Katara shrieked causing Zuko to jump. He looked at her outraged, albeit flushed, face and glared, "what does it look like I'm doing?!" He exclaimed, not in any mood to be polite right now.

She bit her lip, huffed and turned around, "The least you could do is help me get wood!"

"I never said I wouldn't help." Zuko muttered under his breath, putting on his shirt again and picking up wet fallen branches from the tree.

The two worked silently, although stiffly, avoiding the other's gaze and keeping to themselves. It wasn't until they had a good supply that Zuko offered rope and helped tie the wood together. In fifteen minutes they were already walking back. Zuko already soaked resolved to sulking and brooding as he carried most of the load although his spirits did lighten to know the rain had lightened up a bit.

He didn't have to follow this time, he knew the way back, having retraced his steps mentally for the past hour. He would look back and see how the girl was doing but noticed she was having trouble holding her own wood and the orange umbrella that Aang had let her use.

"You need help back there?" He asked, the rain coming down in softer lighter drops, not having to raise his voice too much. Katara glared at him as she tried to walk down a small shift in the ground that was covered with jagged and smooth rocks. "I'm fine, Zuko." She scoffed.

Zuko shrugged and began to turn back until he saw her foot slip on a wet stone and she fell down on her back, the umbrella crashing over her and the wood all over the place.

"Katara!" He exclaimed, surprised that she had fallen and genuinely concerned. If her brother found out she got hurt then he would never hear the end of it!

Dropping his own wood to the ground he all but sprinted to the girl's side. "Are you alright?" he removed the umbrella from her face to get a good look at her, tears of pain welled in her eyes as well as an embarrassed flush light up her face, her eyes bright with anger.

"I'm fine!" She snapped, shifting her self to sit up, before yelping in pain. Zuko almost panicked and tried to help her, "Don't touch me, I'm fine!"

Zuko hesitated but grabbed hold of her anyway, "Stop being stubborn, you're clearly hurt!"

"Oh, when did _you_ start to care?" She growled scathingly, he ignored her as he helped her up, her hands were a bloody mess and her legs and arms were scratched in several places, some grazes were harsher than others but she was alright, until she tried to place her weight on her feet.

"OW!" And suddenly Zuko found her in his arms, leaning on him as she held up her left foot in pain. Zuko then realize she must have either sprained her ankle or fractured it because it had already begun to swell.

"Great." He muttered, knowing that they were not getting anywhere until she fixed that foot of hers. "Come on," He said turning around and bending down to show her his back.

"What?! Oh, you must be joking!" Zuko felt his eyebrow twitch. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No way, I'll just heal my ankle right here right now. So you can just sit back and wait for a while." She said as she tried to sit down on the rocks that had caused her to fall in the first place. "We have no time for that! Look I'll carry you on my back and take you to the cave; there you can heal all you want. I'll come back with your brother to pick up the wood, alright?"

"We do have time!" Katara argued, "Everyone is freezing in the cave right now, it'd be great if I could just take you there right now and pick up the wood after!" Zuko snapped.

"You'll only take up more time!" Katara shot back. "If I heal myself right now, I won't have to worry about this anymore, and we can go back with all the wood we need!"

"And then you'll be too drained from the walk, and carrying the wood and healing yourself that you won't be able to bend at all! You'll only cause more problems!" the two glared heatedly at each other for a while, until Zuko closed his eyes and backed off.

"We're getting no where. Look just get on my back and we can get there faster, I don't get tired very easily so I can place the wood around my neck and carry you, that way you won't strain yourself and I won't have to worry about you all the time from slipping again."

Katara crossed her arms defiantly before growling. "Ugh, fine! But that's it, after this we're not even looking at each other, understand?!"

"Fine by me." Zuko agreed and without another word he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up. Zuko knelt and she, very reluctantly, wrapped her arms around his neck and let him loop his arms around her legs securely. After hoisting her and shifting her weight on his back, with much surprise he found she didn't weigh that much at all, he made his way to his wood and with much balance he managed to get the rope to hang by his neck and carry the wood.

Katara sighed in annoyance, trying her best to put much distance between their bodies, but after another jerk that had her plastered against his back she decided, very irritated, that she would have to settle with being so close to him.

It was awkward and it wasn't until Katara wedged her legs right through his arms did she feel comfortable.

Having no other place to place her neck she let her chin rest on the crook of his neck, where neck met shoulder and much to her surprise she didn't feel disgusted, repulsed or annoyed anymore.

Suddenly his smell was climbing in her nose and she unconsciously took in a deep breath. He smelled kind of…nice.

Like rain, and burning vanilla wood with something that smelled like frankincense. She wasn't surprised to know he had a smell that was expensive on him. The guy _was_ the fire prince at any rate.

"How's your ankle?" Zuko asked, his voice surprisingly gentle. Caught off guard she felt her heart jump suddenly. "It's fine." She replied, her voice gruff and uncaring, but it sounded wrong to her.

At some point on the walk back did they walk down another similar shift though Zuko easily climbed down quickly and silently and it was too late for her to ignore how his muscles flexed and contracted beneath the wet shirt and how he let out the smallest of grunts when he landed gracefully on his feet.

She knew he was a warrior, his ability to battle and his fiery eyes openly expressed his skill, if not that then the precision of his graceful movements. Katara knew many warriors, the men in the water tribe were a great example, and she knew Jet was a warrior as well, seeing his skill in battle was more than enough to convince her.

But Sokka was somewhat lanky and she had never been this close to a man aside from her father, Sokka and Jet. And Jet's clothes weren't wet when he held on to her. But here she could feel Zuko. She could feel his muscles flex and move as he walked and balanced to keep her on his back without sliding off or the wood to bang too hard against his chest.

Suddenly Zuko slid on the ground down another shift, and Katara held on to him to dear life hoping they didn't fall.

They didn't, much to her relief. "Don't worry, we're almost there." Katara didn't say anything, her ankle was throbbing and her senses seemed to be heightened because of this new experience. It didn't help her relax knowing that when she had tightened her grip her left hand had grasped at his torso. So she managed to have a good feel of the muscle there too.

Embarrassed, annoyed and hoping that he didn't feel her heart race in her chest Katara groaned.

"Does it hurt?" Zuko asked, turning his face to face her, concerned. It was brief, but Katara was certain her lips had brushed his when he turned to face her; a warm shiver ran down her back much to her horror.

She all but slammed the lower part of her face in Zuko's shoulder. "Yes…" She muttered through the fabric, Zuko had jerked his face forward and Katara could feel his skin heat up slightly.

Turning his face again to look at her Katara froze, "Don't!" Zuko stopped in time, "We're not letting that happen again."

Zuko nodded, catching the blush on her cheeks before turning away, his own face burning with embarrassment, in his head he was yelling at himself for being so stupid. _NOW she'll NEVER trust you! Imbecile, you practically kissed her! _

It didn't help that she was practically plastered on his back where he could probably feel every little detail of her body. That his arms could feel her legs flex on reflex whenever they would speed up or slow down, he could feel the powerful muscle around his arms and the curve of her legs, waist and front.

He didn't mean to notice these things, but had they been dry he probably had better chance of holding on to her without thinking about her dark skin or how soft her lips were only from that brush.

Spirits above…they already knew they were in too deep. Somehow this seemed too convenient. He should've just let her heal herself.

When they finally arrived, Aang almost rushed out to find out what happened, everyone else almost followed but none of them wanted to be wet at any rate.

Hair stuck to his forehead, cold and annoyed as well as vaguely aroused Zuko quickly walked inside the cave and set Katara down, avoiding her eyes as soon as she thanked him. Though he did notice the blush on her cheeks and how she seemed to be trembling even though she didn't seem to be from the cold.

He let Katara explain what happened as he dried the wood himself and set up the fire, the two completely forgot the main reason why they went to get wood in the first place or the fact they left the umbrella behind.

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Ah…well not much from normal interaction besides the awareness the two had for each other.

Zutara… l'amour…;D

Mido Ao review review review!


	36. Mommy and Daddy

Egad

Hope you enjoyed that last One-shot! Here's another I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar…that MUCH is obvious… (WHY DO WE STILL HAVE TO WRITE THESE?)

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The Duke is usually not in the spotlight. And for good reasons...

He tended to come up with thoughts not everyone would agree with and say things that shouldn't be said. For example, how Haru appeared to look very wise and cool with his mustache. No one really agreed with it…except Haru of course.

Or how Toph is probably a really nice person on the inside. Everyone laughed at that comment.

Usually, the Duke's comments were a basis of good humor, but sometimes…they brought up some problems.

It was during an argument between Zuko and Katara, something that was not very often seen but was not surprising, that The Duke said something that caused a wide commotion everywhere.

"Hey, look I found a cool little mole thing out in the field!" The Duke exclaimed, "Zuko can I keep him?"

"Uh…I don't think so…go ask Katara." Sure enough the child ran up to the waterbender. "Hey Katara look what I found, he's so cool looking! Can I keep him?"

One look at the kid's face and the little animal in his grasp and she got a smile. "Sure you can, The Duke."

"...Don't you think we have enough animals? I don't think he should have it." Zuko said to the girl after seeing The Duke run around happily showing off the little animal he found to the rest of the camp. "Why not?" She asked, indignant. "Well unless you want to feed a ten ton bison, a lemur, your brother's bottomless stomach and a mole, it'd be best he let it go."

"Hey!" Sokka exclaimed, "I heard that!"

"It's still true anyway." Toph said with a shrug smirking when she saw Sokka's face scrounge up into what must be a glare. "I think letting him have the little animal is a good idea, besides, it's not like the little mole will eat that much." Katara said ignoring her brother.

"Katara, you have to be consistent with them," Zuko said before he was interrupted. "Since when did you care about consistency?" Katara scoffed. "Since I realized you let The Duke have almost anything he wants, you're letting everyone walk all over you!"

"Oh, REALLY NOW?!" everyone sighed as the two began to full out argue.

"They really should try to get along…" Teo had said while the two shot arguments at each other. The rest of them nodded, "Aang shouldn't you try to do something?" Haru asked, eyeing the two worriedly from a distance.

"I have…this morning, yesterday, the day before…but they're just too stubborn to take my advice!" Aang said letting a hand come up to a temple. "I don't think it's too bad." The Duke said when the two were screaming 'FINE's at each other trying to hold on to the little animal in his hands earning many strange looks.

"It's like how my parents use to argue, they always ended up making up anyway." Almost everyone froze.

"What do you mean The Duke?" Teo asked. "It's like you know how Katara is the mom of the group, and Zuko is the dad…even though they fight a lot they always make up anyway."

By this time everyone froze, even Toph had stopped moving and stood stock still. Sokka dropped his boomerang, Aang's eyes were wide, Haru and Teo stared at The Duke like he was mad and Zuko and Katara stood in similar positions of shock.

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

Toph laughed, and laughed much to everyone's expense. "It's Mommy Katara and Daddy Zuko!" blushes exploded on both Katara's and Zuko's faces.

"What, no, how could you even say that?!" Katara and Zuko chorused.

"Yea, The Duke…I don't know about you but Zuko isn't the 'Daddy' type." Sokka said, shuddering as the two argued about saying the same things as the other.

"I don't know he reminds me a lot of what I could remember of my dad! Like yesterday when he put me on his shoulders so I could get a mango from a tree!"

"Well who would've thought…?" Teo said with a smile and he laughed nervously when he got angry glares from Aang, Katara and Zuko.

"I am not the dad!" Zuko exclaimed. "I don't know," Toph said in between laughter, "You two fight like an old couple anyway!"

"SHUT UP TOPH!"

"Mommy Katara and Daddy Zuko!!" She shouted as she ran. The two ran after her, yelling.

"You know, The Duke…" Haru said as he watched the whole spectacle, "You really should keep quiet sometimes."

...That's a very good reason...

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_Haha…true that, Haru…True that! well review!  
_

_Mido-Ao_


	37. You Taste Good

Been a while huh? Enjoy a nice dialogue…the details are all up to the imagination.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

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"Alright, what did he do _this_ time?"

"Now, now, Katara, despite how hard it may be to believe it, it wasn't his fault."

"Really…?"

"…Well it may have been his fault, just a little."

"You favor him too much at times, Iroh."

"He's my nephew, if I didn't he'd have no one."

"..."

"Wow…you haven't answered my question, Iroh. What _happened_?"

"Well…uhm…what do you _think_ happened?"

"Iroh…"

"Oh alright, one of the men was badmouthing him after he had accidentally spilled some of the food – "

" – Slop – "

" – on his shoes…"

"…Continue…"

"Yes…well Zuko obviously wouldn't have it…you know…being especially ornery and all since you left..."

("Why do I feel like you're blaming me?")

"So he punched the man in the face."

"…A-and…"

"The man retaliated…we had a full brawl in the kitchen area...it took several men to clean up the mess...plus many more to clean up the rice that spilled all over the grass. It was pretty rough."

"Really?"

"Well…I wouldn't call it that. It just seemed like horrid, cruel punishment from Zuko's part."

"I'm not surprised. Zuko earned his title of high ranking general before becoming Fire Lord after all…that guy had it coming."

"Have I gone crazy or is that praise I hear?"

"Zuko! ...You should be sleeping Zuko. Despite your easy victory, you did get injured."

"No need to remind me. My ribs do the job just fine. when did you get back?"

"Not long ago...I had a feeling you would need me..."

"Well...I wouldn't say that."

"Oh really?"

"Alright...you win this time."

"..."

"…I'll just leave you two alone – er…I mean…You go ahead and get started on healing him, Katara."

"Thank you, Iroh."

"…"

"…"

"Oh Zuko...what am I going to do with you?"

"I thought we established that with Uncle."

"Not that...it's just. Ugh...I leave you for a few days and you go off and break your ribs. Is this going to be a trend now? For every time I have to send a message at the rendezvous point I have to be worrying about your well being. If you can't even control yourself how will you ever - "

"- I missed you."

"- …that was…really straightforward..."

"Beating around the bush only gets me slapped, remember?"

"…r-right…"

"Well I'll be...the greatest waterbender blushing…?"

"Quiet! I am _not_ blushing!"

"I meant it though. I really did miss you."

"…"

"…"

"…I missed you too…"

"…how about my ribs…?"

"Oh! Right…right…alright this might ache a bit."

"Ooh…"

"Sorry…"

"No…no, it feels nice."

"…"

"…"

"There…that should do it – Mm!"

"…"

"…"

"…you taste good."

It was with those three words that Katara found herself kissing Zuko every chance she got.


End file.
